Main Roads to bulldoze hundreds of trees along freeway

Hundreds of trees face imminent destruction by Main Roads along the Mitchell Freeway Southbound between Erindale Rd and Karrinyup Rd to build a 3.4 meter wide PSP cycle path (Principal Shared Path) that you could get a truck through. 

There is already a PSP cycle path on the other side of the freeway (Northbound)!

We do not need a PSP on both sides of the freeway! 

Why not have a beautiful tree-lined scenic bike path for tourism and leisure cycling on one side of the freeway and a high-speed path along the northbound side of the freeway for commuting?

There is a neglected old cycle path on the Southbound side that just needs to be repaired:

Kids riding northwards towards Erindale Road on the old cycle path on the Southbound side of the Mitchelle Freeway in Balcatta. Note the blue crosses on the trees. Hundreds of trees are about to be removed for a new 3.5m wide PSP standard cycle path when there is one on the other side of the freeway. Poor kids, the new one will have little shade and no sense of adventure for them (or for tourists and adults). Don’t worry kids there will be trees that big in 30-40 years’ time for your grand kids.

Magnificent trees to be removed in Balcatta along the freeway for a new PSP cycle path, facing north before Erindale Road.
Trees marked with blue Xs all along the old cycling path on the Southbound side of the Mitchell Freeway in Balcatta. There will be hardly any screeninig from the hot freeway.
Tunnel that goes underneath Erindale Road on the Balcatta side of the Mitchell Freeway (Southbound side)
Old bike path coming out from under the tunnel below Erindale Road heading towards the bridge going over the freeway.

This is another poorly considered, unimaginative, over-engineered, maximum destruction project by Main Roads WA. 

PSP standard cycling path intersection on the Northbound side of the freeway just over the freeway bridge at Erindale Road. We don’t need one on each side of the freeway!

See details of the plans

Below is the current map from the Department of Transport website (Stirling Map):

A section of the existing cycling path from Erindale Road down past the Stirling Train Station along the Mitchell Freeway. From the Department of Transport website Cycling maps (Stirling).

This project was approved by the McGowan Government and the City of Stirling Council*.

This project must be halted immediately! 

The Premier, Mark McGowan must immediately halt this project and make them come up with a more innovative and sympathetic plan that maximises tree retention. We need big shade trees now.  Not in 20 years’ time!

Please write urgently to:

  • Mayor Mark Irwin and Councillors at the City of Stirling (find email addresses here)

Why the City of Stirling can’t lose these trees:

Trees being removed on Friday the 18th of March 2022 along the Mitchell Freeway Southbound behind the Stirling Train Station for the PSP cycle path to
  • 550 trees could go on the Mt Lawley Golf Club site  (public land in Inglewood) if City of Stirling Bureaucrats get their way.
  • Of the 10 most densely populated suburbs in Perth, 7 are in the City of Stirling.  The City of Stirling seems to be a State Government mandated density sacrifice zone for their Perth and Peel @ 3.5 million population growth plan to accommodate John Howard’s mass immigration policy and the Development and Construction Complex.

See below a screenshot from the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2013:

Tell the State Government to back off, because the City of Stirling has done its bit!

  • The City of Stirling is losing about 6,000 trees a year, mainly off privately owned land, but as you can see much of it with the approval of the City of Stirling on public land.  The City has to do more to protect it’s ratepayers and residents from rising temperatures partly caused by the Urban Heat Island Effect.

* Note, The City of Stirling Mayor and Councillors often don’t get all the details from City and State bureaucrats before making decisions.  This PSP would likely have been sold to them as a green project and the full ramifications of the tree removal may not have been apparent?

By Leisha Jack

3 thoughts on “Main Roads to bulldoze hundreds of trees along freeway

  1. I use the present cycle path frequently with my group of riders the Cycle Touring Association! Its beautifully shaded along the stretch planned for a tree massacre! No way should these trees be touched! Perth is such a hot dry place, every tree counts !!

    • Agreed. There will be fewer days in summer as it gets hotter that people will want to ride and walk. The only way we can counter that is by making sure pathways are treelined, cool and shady.

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