Construction of Climbing Lane - SLK 90.45 to 93.6 - Collie Lake King Road (M037)

The Freight Vehicle Productivity Improvement Program (Main Roads, 2024) identified several road projects around the State that required upgrading to reduce current constraints to freight efficiency across the State Road network. The construction of a climbing lane on Collie Lake King Road, before Darkan was one of the projects identified. Key benefits of this program include:

• Improved freight movements and efficiency by optimising roadside stopping places to better fit industry needs in terms of key locations, parking capacity, safe access, and facilities.
• Improve access for oversized vehicles.
• Improved road safety for heavy vehicles though better fatigue management options, and provision of auxiliary lanes with a resultant savings in crash costs and community trauma.
• Provide significant benefits for local and regional economies, particularly the resource, heavy transport and freight industries that transport mining products, mining equipment, fuel, explosives, and other general freight between projects across regions
• Reduced overall operating costs.
• Improved driver experience

Westbound traffic on Collie Lake King Road, west of Darkan, is often impeded by slow moving heavy vehicles that lose acceleration traversing a 4% incline between SLK 93.5 to 91.9. At the crest, heavy vehicles are often doing less than 20 km/h. This creates a potential safety hazard as inadequate sight distances make it unsafe for light vehicles to overtake heavy vehicles. Twelve years of data show that between the towns of Collie and Lake King, crashes have resulted in one fatality, two hospital admissions and two requiring medical attention. The construction of a west-bound climbing (passing) lane will improve the flow of traffic and reduce the risk of traffic crashes from unsafe overtaking attempts.