The Government of Western Australia (WA) has secured an additional A$71m ($53m) funding for its Regional Road Safety Programme.

This extra amount was approved in a mid-year review. This is in addition to the A$284m ($213m) Commonwealth contribution announced earlier this year in the Federal Budget.

Earlier this year, an initial A$100m ($75m) partnership between State and Federal Government was established under the programme. This amount was to deliver safety upgrades to 1,400km of regional roads.

In total, A$455m ($342m) of investment has been secured by the government for upgrading up to 7,000km of regional roads across WA. This will also help create new employment opportunities in the region.

WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said: “We now have $455m allocated to upgrading regional roads all across our state over the next two years. These works will reduce crashes while also providing a much-needed boost to local economies and supporting local jobs.

“Up to 7,000km of regional roads will now be given these much-needed treatments with works to be completed by mid-2022. Our government was instrumental in getting this programme on the national agenda and I want to thank the Commonwealth Government for their contribution.”

The safety upgrades are expected to begin in mid-2022 and will involve sealing of existing road shoulders and the installation of audible lines to warn drivers straying out of their lane.

Once completed, the improvements are expected to decrease single-vehicle ‘run off-road’ crashes.

Last month, WA and the Australian Government agreed to jointly work on the A$100m ($73m) transformation of Thomas Road in Perth’s south-eastern suburbs.