The estimated $118 million upgrade of High Street between Carrington Street and Stirling Highway is one of six proposed southern suburbs projects aiming to ease traffic congestion and improve safety.
The City of Fremantle had slated a redevelopment of High Street in 2014, but Mayor Brad Pettitt said commitment to the outer harbour and the potential cap of the Fremantle inner harbour had made the major upgrades “potentially unnecessary as well as overly intrusive and expensive”.
“Instead of proceeding with these expensive options, Fremantle Council is looking forward to working with the new state government to come up with a more modest, near-term, lower-cost solution that improves the safety and performance of the intersection but also improves other parts of the freight route including North Fremantle and the netball grounds at Gibson Park,” he said.
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WA Premier Mark McGowan said $1.2 billion of funding for Metronet had also been secured through the deal. Construction of the new circle line is due to start in 2019.
Other projects funded include the widening of Kwinana Freeway between Russell Road and Roe Highway and connecting Murdoch Drive to both the freeway and Roe Highway.
Fremantle MHR Josh Wilson said the project would transform the area.
“The work on these projects will start later this year with the widening of Armadale Road, and in time all five projects will reduce congestion and improve safety on our roads while creating almost 4000 jobs,” he said.
“The long-overdue transport works across Fremantle and Cockburn, taken together with Metronet’s Cockburn-Thornlie passenger rail connection, will be transformative projects for the south-metro region.”
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