One of Fremantle’s largest ever infrastructure projects is officially underway, with the $430 million Fremantle Traffic Bridge now under construction.
The new bridge will feature two lanes in each direction, high clearance for watercraft and wider active transport paths. It will replace the existing bridge which will remain operational until late 2025 in order to minimise disruptions to the public.
The existing timber bridge is estimated to be used by 20,000 commuters a day and was initially constructed in 1938.
The new bridge will be the only extradosed bridge in Australia. The design incorporates cantilevers and cable supports. The first phase of major works will be the construction of four temporary jetties to provide solid platforms for the four large cranes that will install the bridge piles and construct the edge beams.
Federal Member for Fremantle Josh Wilson has labelled the project as “generational”.
“This is not just the largest and most significant infrastructure project in Fremantle for decades, it also represents a generational upgrade in terms of safe and smooth connectivity across the Derbal Yerrigan for vehicles, bikes, and people,” Wilson says.
“I am glad to have made the delivery of a new Fremantle bridge a major focus of my work, and I want to acknowledge the active and exacting engagement of my community in shaping what will be a highly functional and stylish feature of our port landscape.”
State Member for Fremantle Simone McGurk says the design process was drawn out to ensure all plans took into consideration users of the current bridge and surrounding roads.
“The original design, first of all, was east of the current bridge site, McGurk says.
“We wanted to keep this bridge up as long as possible because the impact on commuters, the Fremantle community, Fremantle business, but all those that use this bridge is significant.
“You can imagine taking this many cars that use this bridge everyday onto the Stirling Bridge or onto Leach Highway or the freeway and the like is going to be a disruption.
“There will be a lot of consultation and education for people to make sure that they understand when those disruptions will be happening and what the alternatives are for them.
“I urge people to sign on to their updates from Main Roads so that they can keep as informed as possible.
“The first design had a duplicate of the rail bridge as well as a new traffic bridge but considering we have committed to the outer harbour with Westport, we have constrained this project to make sure it is within the budget and $430 million is a significant budget but the design is in there.
“We have got a partnership alliance to work on this project so we’re confident about the cost and we’re confident about the time frames as well.”
Read more ATN:
Brand Finance names most valuable logistics companies
Aussie truck sales warn in August, down on 2023
Melbourne’s tunnels open to livestock transport