New Lord Street a road to METRONET and local jobs

• Seven-kilometre dual carriageway to immediately reduce traffic congestion and journey times for public transport commuters, creating 90 direct jobs
• Planned bus transit way cancelled, with new focus on the new dual carriageway and the future Morley-Ellenbrook Line
• Improved public transport infrastructure such as new park and ride facilities, new stops and bus priority measures as part of renegotiated contract
• Planning a future rail line and utility relocation in Ellenbrook town centre to enable the future METRONET station 

The McGowan Government will construct a new dual-carriageway road parallel to the existing Lord Street to ease congestion in Perth's north-eastern suburbs.
In one of the first steps towards building the Morley-Ellenbrook Line as part of METRONET, the new road corridor will complement the future train line to Ellenbrook.
The McGowan Labor Government has renegotiated an existing contract for the construction of a bus transit way to Ellenbrook, removing it from the New Lord Street project to instead facilitate the rail line to be completed in 2022.
New Lord Street will generally run parallel to the existing Lord Street, which will be retained as a local road to service Ellenbrook and the rapidly growing suburbs of Dayton, Whiteman and Brabham.
The redistribution of traffic to New Lord Street is expected to significantly reduce congestion on the existing Lord Street - currently used by about 14,000 vehicles a day.
Meanwhile, new bus stops, bus priority measures and a new park and ride facility in Henley Brook means public transport users can expect a faster, more reliable service between Ellenbrook and Bassendean.
A shared path will also run adjacent to the road, providing improved access to Whiteman Park for cyclists and pedestrians.
Work on the project will begin shortly and will include the relocation of a communications mast to make way for a METRONET station in the heart of Ellenbrook.
The project is expected to cost $57 million and is due to be completed by mid-2018.
Comments attributed to Premier Mark McGowan:
"A bus lane for Ellenbrook was never going to cut it; that's why we've moved swiftly to build a new dual-carriageway to ease traffic congestion and start work on the rail line to Ellenbrook.
"Our commitment to the north-eastern suburbs was to deliver road improvements and METRONET - and that's exactly what we're going to do."
Comments attributed to Transport Minister Rita Saffioti:
"A bus lane for Ellenbrook is just not a proper solution, so we've successfully renegotiated the contract, at no extra cost, to build the New Lord Street and start working on the rail line to Ellenbrook instead.
"New Lord Street will address one of the major bottlenecks on our road network - the southbound approach to the Marshall Road roundabout, where queues during the morning peak can extend to 2.5 kilometres.
"This project forms part of a series of transport improvements for Perth's north-eastern suburbs.
"Together with NorthLink WA, road capacity will be increased significantly, while the future Morley-Ellenbrook Line will connect some of our fastest-growing suburbs with Perth and the METRONET."