Vegetation Clearance & Road Closures about to happen on Old Traffic Bridge project

We reported to you very recently on the latest activities associated with the Old Traffic Bridge replacement project.

More detail is now to hand from Main Roads WA on the process of relocating services from the Bridge – which involve vegetation clearance and road closures. And drilling.

As we recently reported, gas services will be decommissioned and removed from the existing bridge, with new connection points activated north and south of the river.

Telecommunication and water services will also be removed. Three new pipelines (one telecommunication and two water) will be installed under the riverbed to house the new services.

A Horizontal Directional Drill will be used to drill under the riverbed connecting a pipeline to both sides of the river. Once the pipeline is in place, the service lines will be placed inside the pipe.

If you are interested in finding out more about the HDD or Horizontal Directional Drilling process look here.

Main Roads WA has also flagged other activities and changes in the area, including those needed to ‘prioritise the safety of residents, pedestrians and workers’, including street closures and vegetation clearance.

CLOSURE OF BEACH STREET AND QUEEN VICTORIA STREET FOR ROAD USERS, PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS

Beach Street will close from April to August 2024 as large machines will be in use for service relocations.

Access to the businesses and carpark on Beach Street east of the bridge at The Jetty and opposite Beach Co will be maintained. Vehicles and pedestrians travelling to and from Fremantle will be detoured via East Street and Canning Highway.

Queen Victoria Street (including Fremantle Traffic Bridge), between Swan Street and Canning Highway will have intermittent lane closures from April.

Advance notice of any closures or traffic modifications will be given. You can also provide feedback on this closure until 6 April right here.

Here’s the Beach Street Closure Detour Map to help explain what’s going to happen.

STREET LIGHT REMOVAL

Western Power works will be undertaken from 18 March to 23 March 2024 to:
* Remove five streetlights on Queen Victoria Street, between Swan Street and the traffic bridge, to install new power cables.
* Remove six streetlights on Beach Street, between Queen Victoria Street and East Street,
in order to create space for the drill rig and associated machinery.

It’s already happening!

Temporary solar power towers will provide lighting for road users. These sustainable lighting towers will remove the need for diesel generators, reducing noise and odour for residents in the area.

This is what the temporary towers look like – you will see them on Beach Street right now.

SITE FENCING

From late-March, fencing will be installed at locations north and south of the bridge.

The area on the north-east side of Queen Victoria Street between Swan Street and the traffic bridge (currently used as an informal car park) will be closed to house the drill pipeline exit point.

More fencing will be required when relocations of the two water lines starts around late July 2024. You can make further inquiries about the fencing right here.

VEGETATION REMOVAL

Thus is the activity that really gets the Freo community agitated.

Main Roads WA advises that trees and vegetation need to be removed to allow construction of a limestone pad for the drill rigs and site laydown areas.

But rest easy folks because professional arborists have been engaged early to provide advice on the condition and species of trees in the area as well as identify which trees are suitable for removal.

Clearing will start tomorrow, 25 March, with professional arborists on site, and will only be done in the area where the drill rigs will operate.

These works have been staged separately, using one drill at a time instead of two, which has reduced the clearing footprint.

Removed vegetation will be mulched and stored for re-use in landscaping. Impacts such as dust and noise will be minimised, and traffic management will be in place for these works.

An urban and landscape design will be developed in consultation with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservations and Attraction and the City of Fremantle, using local, native species to restore the environment to its natural state and support the riverine ecology.

Here are the approximate vegetation clearing locations provided by Mains Roads WA.