How will merging be easier on the Smart Freeway?
During peak periods, it can be difficult to get up enough speed to merge seamlessly into the traffic because so many motorists are trying to do the same thing. This can cause stop-start conditions on our freeway.
To overcome this, Perth’s smart freeways have:
This technology and the staff in our Road Network Operations Centre work together to keep the freeway flowing.
By managing the entry of vehicles onto the freeway, everyone gets a chance to find a gap and merge smoothly into the traffic.
All you need to do is follow the signals, just like you do at other traffic lights. Go when the light is green, prepare to stop on yellow and stop on red.
No, when too many vehicles try to join existing traffic on the freeway, they’re unable to reach merging speed, slowing down freeway traffic. 
Once this occurs, the impact is felt for kilometres, causing congestion to build.
Traffic signals at the on-ramps allow one car per lane to enter at a time. This gives each vehicle the opportunity to get up to freeway merging speed, reducing congestion.
The ramp signals are only used when traffic is heavy, which mostly occurs during morning peak times or when there’s an incident causing congestion.
When traffic is light, merging onto the freeway is easy and does not slow down traffic flow, so the on-ramp signals aren’t needed at those times.
Overcoming congestion is complex and different sections of the freeway network may require different solutions to keep traffic running smoothly.
Main Roads will consider what solutions work best in each location, introducing more smart freeway technologies across the network where they make sense and are cost-effective to implement.