Alliance awarded contract for $230M Swan River Crossings project in WA

Main Roads WA will work with an alliance of contractors in the planning and development for the Swan River Crossings Project in Perth.

The team will establish the next steps in alignment investigation, detailed design and construction.

Laing O’Rourke Australia Construction, Arup Australia and WSP Australia will form an alliance with Main Roads for the project which will replace the old Fremantle Traffic Bridge.

Western Australian Minister for Transport and Planning, the Hon Rita Saffioti MLA, said the Fremantle Traffic Bridge was one of the major infrastructure projects brought forward to support the Western Australian economy through COVID-19.

“This is a significant project that has been on the agenda for decades,” she said.

“There are ongoing significant maintenance costs with the existing bridge, and a need to replace the current bridge with a new structure.”

Works will also include a dedicated pedestrian and cycling path. This will form Stage 3 of the Perth to Fremantle Principal Shared Path, of which Stage 1 was recently complete and Stage 2 is now underway.

Senator for Western Australia Matt O’Sullivan said the project was due to commence construction in late-2021, once all design and alignment investigations are finalised.

“An extensive community consultation program has been underway for the Swan River Crossings Project since August following community feedback on the proposed location of the new bridge,” Senator O’Sullivan said.

“More than 300 people took part in the online survey, 150 attended community events and more than a dozen briefings and presentations were delivered to community groups and stakeholders.”

He said the preferred alignment initially had a new traffic bridge to the east of the current Fremantle Traffic Bridge, in direct response to community feedback, the alliance team will now further investigate options to build between the existing road and rail bridges before a final location is determined.

The Federal and Western Australian Governments are funding the project on a 50:50 basis.