Having identified the city centre, waterfront, northern gateway and Fremantle Oval, as well as a light rail connectivity plan, as the five major projects, the plan highlights a new city square in front of the train station, a new Victoria Quay commercial precinct and an upgrade around Cliff Street.
It also outlines a light rail circuit that could run along Market Street, South Terrace and down a Norfolk Street extended to the harbour.
Mayor Brad Pettitt said the City had set its forward planning at a challenging, but achievable, level with no ‘unachievable, pie in the sky, monorail style projects’.
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READ NOWThe report lists the ways the key projects had already been started, including the Esplanade Youth Plaza, city centre development sites, Fremantle Leisure Centre upgrade, higher-density development in Queen Victoria Street and Victoria Quay Precinct planning.
‘The projects are both practical and achievable over the next decade and a half,’ Dr Pettitt.
‘The hardest to achieve will be light rail running south and east of Fremantle and that will require major State Government funding support.’
He said the light rail project alone was likely to cost several hundred million dollars.
‘What the Fremantle Council has done through this plan is lock down the route and planning, so when the State Government commits to this, we are ready to go,’ he said.
He said the bridge duplication had been estimated to cost about $150 million.
‘Ultimately it is inevitable that it will need to be replaced,’ Dr Pettitt said. ‘It is a question of when rather than if.
‘This opens up the exciting opportunity for adapting and reusing the old traffic bridge into a great public space.
‘The Fremantle Council is concerned that this project seems to have recently dropped out of the State Government’s future budget and we strongly encourage them to prioritise this ASAP.’