Fremantle's Walyalup Bridge Opens Early to Crowds, Despite a $596 Million Cost Blowout

Gladys Arundel was among the first people to walk onto the new Fremantle traffic bridge, 87 years after she attended the opening of its predecessor. She was fourteen in 1939, a high school student whose class was sent down the road on foot for the ceremony. "It was very exciting," she recalled of that day. Up to 15,000 people were expected to cross the replacement, the Walyalup Bridge, on its opening day, months earlier than planned.

The new crossing is 500 metres long and spans the Swan River at the port city. It is the first "extra-dosed" bridge built in Australia, a design that combines cantilevers with cable stay supports. It has the same number of traffic lanes as the old bridge, but wider pedestrian paths and higher clearance for boats.

The old bridge was 86 years old and heritage-listed. It was closed in February and progressively dismantled while the new structure was built around it. Construction was expected to take 12 months and finished about four months ahead of that. Jan Middleton was also in the crowd. Seventy years ago she survived a 10-metre plunge off the old bridge in her car.

The cost is the harder part of the story. The bridge came in at $596 million, more than double the original estimate. Transport Minister Rita Saffioti attributed the blowout primarily to the redesign. She said the version before the final one involved a complete reconfiguration of the surrounding roads, which would have disrupted traffic for years. The government instead settled on a method that, in her words, disrupted the community the least. She thanked everyone involved, along with residents and local businesses, for their patience.

The Walyalup Bridge is the fifth iteration of the crossing. Convicts built the first in the mid-1800s. The 1939 bridge, the most recent one replaced, was designed to last 40 years. Saffioti said much thought went into preserving that history: some timber, including decking, has been kept, and some of the pylons have been built into artwork.

When the bridge closed, there were serious fears that traffic would clog the one remaining river crossing, the Stirling Bridge. The government adjusted traffic signals and turning lanes and added other measures. It also put on extra train and bus services, created more free parking bays for SmartRider users, and increased CCTV monitoring of traffic. Congestion proved less severe than feared. "We managed to move people throughout this area with some delays but not anywhere near what people were expecting," Saffioti said.

Businesses on both sides of the river had warned of potentially severe economic damage. The outcome was mixed: some have since closed, others reported fewer customers, and others said the closure was not as bad as they had feared.

Not everyone is pleased with the result. The Cyclists' Action Group has condemned the design as "the most unsafe design for pedestrians, cyclists and mothers with prams built over the rivers near Perth since at least 1980." Its central complaint is the lack of a grade-separated crossing under the bridge's north end, which would let vulnerable road users cross Queen Victoria Street safely. Whether the government responds to that criticism is the question to watch now that the bridge is open.