DESPITE years of promises and two separate rounds of government recognition, a hazardous intersection in Bayswater remains largely untouched — and locals are losing patience.
Community advocate Georgina Ker says the junction of Guildford Road and King William Street was first earmarked for safety upgrades in 2018 under the state’s Black Spot Program. The project was later shelved when costs blew out.
“It was specifically allocated in 2018 under the Black Spots program, so state government funding,” Ms Ker said. “Then when they scoped the project, basically it cost more than the funding that was available.”
The intersection returned to public attention in 2021, when Main Roads WA closed parts of Bayswater for the new station redevelopment. The community was told the intersection upgrade would go ahead once the station was completed.
• Georgina Kerr says the Guildford/King William crossing is unsafe.
“City of Bayswater got it back on the agenda with Main Roads when the station was being redeveloped,” Ms Ker said.
“Main Roads had to get approval from the council to completely close some of the roads for a time. And so the council, quite cleverly, said, ‘okay, on the condition that you fix the intersection’.
“Main Roads, to my understanding, said, ‘Oh yeah, when the station redevelopment is done, we’ll do that’.
“The station redevelopment is done, we’ve got nothing.”
While some minor tweaks — such as added turning arrows — were contemplated back in 2018, Ms Ker says the intersection needs significant work to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists.
With the nearby river, dog-walking routes and a bird sanctuary to visit, the intersection is a key pedestrian link — but not a safe one.
“You head straight down there, you’ve got the river — that’s the easiest access,” she said. “It’s time to make sure that Main Roads are held accountable.”
Ms Ker said current talks about “greening” King William Street down to the river make the timing perfect for the long-overdue upgrade.
“You’ve got this nice green street to encourage people to walk, but then an intersection that’s not safe. What’s the point?”
Although major accidents may be few, residents report a regular stream of minor incidents.
“I don’t know that there’s a lot of serious crashes, but anecdotally from residents, there’s a lot of minor ones,” she said.
At the City of Bayswater’s AGM in March, Ms Ker moved a motion calling on Main Roads to act. It was later endorsed by council, with support from Cr Eli Petersen-Pik, who pushed for stronger wording.
“They’re asking the CEO to say ‘fix it’, really give Main Roads a nudge and say, ‘Let’s get on with it’,” she said.
But Ms Ker remains frustrated by what she sees as buck-passing.
“I just find it funny that [Main Roads] say, ‘we’ve provided public transport infrastructure and all that so you don’t have to use the road’, but you’ve still got to get across the road,” she said. “There’s a daycare on the corner. There’s a huge housing complex there.”
by STEVE GRANT