EAST FREMANTLE mayor Tony Natale says the closure of the Fremantle Traffic Bridge has so far gone more smoothly than expected, though the town may look at support for businesses if trade drops off.

“Anecdotally… it’s gone very well,” he said. 

“It’s surprising and to date, touch wood, there hasn’t been any excessive delay and I’m optimistic that we can maintain that. 

“At this point in time there’s been no complaints of rat running through the town as well, so it’s been relatively positive.”

Mr Natale said early concerns about north–south access through East Fremantle had not materialised. 

“One of our concerns was there were minimal paths getting into Fremantle from both the north and the south part of East Fremantle… but from people that have contacted me, they’ve not had issues travelling on Riverside Road and Preston Point Road at this point in time,” he said.

The only glitch reported so far was people ignoring the lights at the Stirling Highway, Canning Highway intersection, and Mr Natale said he’d been told there’d be a grace period to allow drivers to adapt to the changes.

“But I was reminded there are numerous cameras and CTV – they will be fined eventually.”

He said heavy promotion of the closure could have unintended consequences for traders. 

“Because the state government has communicated extremely widely on the bridge closure… even if you drive very east, you’ll see signs that say bridge closure, avoid the area,” he said. 

“So while we’re feeling quite satisfied with ourselves, if people avoid businesses in Fremantle and businesses in East Fremantle, that can be another problem.”

Some businesses had already raised concerns that their counterparts in Fremantle were getting a helping hand from the council. 

“East Fremantle haven’t considered that as an option, but it’s something that we may need to look at in the future. It all depends on the impact.”

Mr Natale said the town would consider its options. “We will look at this. We will put this through the financial lens about how we can help, rather than just providing grants to businesses,” he said. 

“We had no control over the timing of the bridge, so I would expect that we’ll be working with any of that businesses to see how we can make it easy for them to operate.”

Transport minister Rita Saffioti said extensive measures had been put in place to keep traffic moving. “In the lead up to yesterday’s closure of the Fremantle Traffic Bridge, we worked with the community to implement as many measures as possible to keep Fremantle moving,” she said.

“That includes free parking for public transport users at Fremantle Station, with extra parking and services – and we’ve seen over a 30 per cent increase on boardings compared to the same time last year.”

She said freight had also been shifted to off-peak times and rail. 

“And we’ve modified intersections and traffic movements around the bridge, meaning between the peak two hour period there were more than 1000 additional vehicles crossing over Stirling Bridge,” she said.

“There are a range of initiatives supporting peak period road users to move around the network over the shut – and it’s great to see that the first day has gone smoothly. 

“We thank everyone for their understanding, and look forward to delivering another incredible infrastructure project for generations of Western Australians to use.”

by STEVE GRANT