![\"Fremantle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/86e1221b62316bbd708315daa322c5382772541e.jpg\")
Camera IconFremantle Traffic Bridge is used by about 24,000 vehicles every day. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\nThe State Government has again pledged everything possible is being done to minimise chaos on the roads when the Fremantle Traffic Bridge is closed for one year on Sunday.<\/p>\n
And Transport Minister Rita Saffioti is adamant the $430 million project will be completed on time, saying she was \u201cvery confident\u201d motorists would be back on the Swan River crossing in 12 months.<\/p>\n
The bridge \u2014 which is used by about 24,000 vehicles every day \u2014 will officially shut for repairs on Sunday, which will see the construction of two lanes in each direction, wider bike paths and higher clearance for watercraft.<\/p>\n
It is set to impact commute time across Stirling Highway, Canning Highway and Stirling Bridge, with early modelling showing a five-minute drive between North and South Fremantle could blow out to closer to half an hour.<\/p>\n
The West Australian has reported business owners are expecting a major dip in visitors to the city, while nearby residents are worried about increased traffic through normally quiet streets.<\/p>\n
Camera IconFremantle Traffic Bridge is used by about 24,000 vehicles every day. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n
Ms Saffioti again apologised for the works \u2014 with preliminary upgrades already started \u2014 but that the 86-year-old structure needed an urgent development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very confident, as you can see a lot of work\u2019s been done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimilar to the Armadale rail line, where we only shut the existing infrastructure when we\u2019re confident that we can progress and build a new one.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you can see [most of] the cables are up, the edge beams are nearly done, they\u2019ll be done over the next four or five days, the towers are at their ultimate height, a lot of work\u2019s been done.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason we chose this design of bridge, and it\u2019s very complicated, I\u2019m sure the team would have liked an easier bridge to build, the very, very complicated design and structure, is to allow us to do as much as possible off-site.\u201d<\/p>\n
To accommodate for the bridge closure the Cook Government has announced a number of measures to ease the congestion pain, including 20 modified intersections and two on-site traffic accident response teams.<\/p>\n
Commuters are also being encouraged to consider public transport options, with peak time train riders now able to take their bikes on the train between Fremantle and North Fremantle stations.<\/p>\n
More parking at Fremantle Station, additional services and a fare-free zone along sections of South Terrace are also being put in place.<\/p>\n
Fremantle Mayor Ben Lawver said while communication had been good, not everything had been implemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that we\u2019ve asked State Government for, that we think is absolutely reasonable, is to kind of let us deal with things as they pop up quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if we need to do local road interventions or build out some bicycle infrastructure on on roads, or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cab45ca4bc1112ff03dfd1605c6b8efd7d44da77.jpg\")
Camera IconAn artists impression of the Fremantle Traffic Bridge which was submitted for Development Approval. Credit: Supplied\/RegionalHUB<\/p>\n
Ms Saffioti was also joined by Fremantle MP and Minister Simone McGurk, who had a message for those worried about the delays in getting into Fremantle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also important to point out that Fremantle remains open for business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been an important support that we\u2019ve been trying to put in place for small businesses in particular that rely on people coming into Fremantle during the week, but also, importantly, on the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want people to stop coming into Fremantle, there\u2019s a lot to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sentiment was backed by Fremantle Chamber of Commerce chief executive Chrissie Maus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe in Perth to get behind Freo, it\u2019s the most incredible place, the sand the salt, the sweat,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything here in Freo is so special and we need everyone to come in and not have ten minutes taken off their drive and decide they\u2019re never coming to Freo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shadow transport minister Steve Martin said the pressue was now on the Government to get the closure right.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand there wil be disruption while this bridge is built,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe test for the Minister is whether locals, commuters and impacted businesses feel everything possible has been done to mitigate the impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The State Government has again pledged everything possible is being done to minimise chaos on the roads when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,84,7239,45],"class_list":["post-447607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-state-politics","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}