Main Roads Western Australia | 3 One of Western Australia’s worst accident Black Spots in the State’s South West has been transformed into a highly efficient traffic solution that won a 2013 Engineering Excellence Award. Located at the entrance to one of the State’s major regional centres of Bunbury, the Eelup roundabout won the Regional Award category for excellence and exceptional engineering, becoming the State’s first signalised roundabout. The Eelup roundabout is Western Australia’s largest, and connects four major roads including the Australind Bypass, a part of the main link to Perth and the State’s South West. The Australind Bypass carries 30,000 vehicles per day (vpd), while Sandridge Road carries 20,000 (vpd), Robertson Drive 15,000 (vpd) and Koombana Drive 13,000 (vpd). The roundabout also carries traffic headed for the State’s popular south west tourist destinations, including Busselton and Margaret River. Recognised as having the State’s worst crash rate with over 650 recorded crashes in the past five years, the roundabout also had capacity problems seen by the long queues that formed on the major roads during peak hours. While there have been no fatalities, these crashes have cost the community an estimated $11 million, not including resultant delays and the cost of unreported accidents. The crash rate was the main driver for proceeding with the major upgrade.
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