Cottesloe voters in North Fremantle concerned as Barnett declares there is no ‘Roe 10’

COTTESLOE electorate voters in North Fremantle will only get an improved intersection to deal with more traffic from the $1.1 billion Roe 9 tunnel if Premier Colin Barnett is re-elected on March 11

“I think the only works that will be contemplated in the foreseeable future in North Fremantle is to modify that (Tydeman Road-Stirling Highway) right-angle turn where the trucks physically can’t get around the corner, they run over the footpath, and to make that more of a curved turn,” Mr Barnett told the Western Suburbs Weekly on Tuesday morning.

He ruled out any 1.2km Roe 10 section through the portside suburb, which faces a trebling of truck traffic on Tydeman Road by 2030.

After the election pledge of a 2019 start for Roe 9, which finishes 1.4km south of the Tydeman Road intersection, North Fremantle electors’ concerns included how their suburb deals with more Perth Freight Link trucks, and cars, and the lack of information before the election.

They also wanted to know if Roe 10 could be a loop from the Stirling Highway-Queen Victoria Street intersection, through an adjacent cutting, now hosting a car wash, and beside potential Port Beach apartments, to the port.

“There will be no flyovers, or ring roads or tunnels or anything else, and as I said, there is no Roe 10,” Mr Barnett said.

He said existing roads were “adequate for at least 10 years”, and more private cars would go through the suburb from normal growth, not just because of the PFL.

Last year, Mr Barnett met electors about the PFL at North Fremantle Community Hall, and when asked about another meeting before March 11 he said he was “happy” to talk to constituents at his electorate office.

However, North Fremantle Community Association convenor Gerard MacGill said there was “unease” after the Roe 9 pledge, and people deserved to know “immediately” about the PFL through their streets to make decisions for their families and homes.

“Not to mention their voting intentions,” Mr MacGill said.

Mr Barnett also has elector disgruntlement to the north in his electorate in Cottesloe, where Curtin Avenue may have to take more north-bound container trucks from any PFL-fed port.

“The long-term effect is an estimated trebling to 900 of container trucks that daily use Curtin Avenue,” Cottesloe Residents and Ratepayers Association secretary Yvonne Hart said.