School hot spot for truck flips

‘I see pedestrians walking up that side of the road to the start of the Stirling Bridge, including school kids,’ City of Fremantle councillor Robert Fittock said.

At 7.05pm on February 16, a container truck with a non-hazardous load left Fremantle Port and flipped onto its side, its driver uninjured, while turning right at the Tydeman Road-Stirling Bridge intersection in North Fremantle.

Another container truck carrying frozen food flipped at exactly the same location at 6.20am on October 2 last year.

Cr Fittock said Main Roads had ‘no idea’ of the hazard at a February 24 Community Focus Group meeting about the $1.6 billion Perth Freight Link from Fremantle Port, which may eventually go through the intersection.

Current funds for the link only start south of the bridge and include widening Leach Highway in East Fremantle and the controversial Roe 8 extension in southern suburbs.

Last November, a Fremantle Port Authority study found Tydeman Road north of the bridge carried 2226 trucks in any 12-hour working day.

With container movements around the port estimated to double to 1.4 million, residents expect more trucks will go through the road’s intersection with the highway, about 150m from North Fremantle Primary School on John Street.

North Fremantle resident Joe Bellino has noted the intersection’s camber, slope and allegedly tight right turn, after living next to it for 41 years.

‘The road’s slope puts a lot of pressure on the containers as they go round,’ Mr Bellino said.

Main Roads crash data shows 52 crashes at the intersection between 2009 and 2013, 25 per cent requiring an ambulance.

A Main Roads spokesman said the intersection was part of a review identifying future modifications to make Tydeman Road safe and for trucks to safely negotiate the intersection.

‘However, the current Perth Freight Link project does not include any major improvements to this section of Stirling Highway,’ he said.