Residents still in limbo over Roe 9

Residents still in limbo over Roe 9 

source: Fremantle Gazette

Premier Colin Barnett at last week’s North Fremantle Community Association Meeting.

THE uncertainty felt by residents living along two proposed routes for Roe 9 will continue, with the State Government no closer to deciding which avenue it will choose for stage two of the $1.6 billion Perth Freight Link (PFL).

The State Government is also no closer to finding a solution to extend the PFL from Stirling Bridge into Fremantle Port.

But any hope these challenges would sway the State into working instead towards an outer harbour at Cockburn Sound have been stopped in their tracks, with Premier Colin Barnett warning that environmental groups are sure to perk up once the dock is put firmly on the agenda.

Mr Barnett last week reiterated comments from State Treasurer Mike Nahan that Roe 8, the 5.2km link from Roe Highway to Stock Road, was good to go.

“I expect the contracts for construction of Roe 8 to be signed well before Christmas and I expect construction to begin early 2016,” he said.

But residents in Hamilton Hill, Palmyra and White Gum Valley, who are situated along two alternative routes linking Stock Road to Stirling Bridge, are still no wiser about their future.

“That connection is still a long, long way away and very different to the Roe 8 issue,” Mr Barnett told a packed North Fremantle Community Hall last Tuesday evening.

The Government is also battling to find a solution for the last piece of the Perth Freight Link puzzle: getting trucks across the Swan River. Sustainability expert Peter Newman said a solution “looks almost impossible”.

“It’s quite possible the only thing is to go over the top of the Stirling Bridge,” he said.

“It seems to be the only thing the engineers are saying to me.

“Certainly the tunnelling won’t work. There is no safe solution to that last bit.”

But the issues have not encouraged Mr Barnett to turn his attention to the outer harbour at Cockburn Sound, which he said would come under intense scrutiny when planning finally got started.

“There is no doubt at some stage you will see the development of a container facility in Cockburn Sound,” Mr Barnett said.

“But that is going to be a contentious project; it will be heavily opposed, probably quite validly on environmental grounds, on recreational grounds for people who sail and boat and fish in the area.

“That’s going to be a very intrusive construction out into the middle of Cockburn Sound.”

Prof Newman said any PFL should be headed to an outer harbour because of WA’s growing “knowledge economy” and because container terminals should not be in the heart of a city, as is the case in Fremantle.

Mr Barnett said he would rather progress Roe 8 now than wait 10 years for an over-flow outer harbour to be built.

The original article, can and should be read HERE

Residents told to dig in for best cutting

Residents told to dig in for best cutting

Jon Bassett | August 31, 2015, 3:00 PM | FREMANTLE GAZETTE

Cole Hendrigan’s impression of a 30m PFL trench, or cutting, past Royal Fremantle Golf Course.

SWANBOURNE residents living next to a truck highway cutting say East Fremantle residents facing Perth Freight Link (PFL) road cuttings and flyovers should dig in and argue for the best and expensive designs for the road works.

“Just don’t let them bull-ride over you, and have a say on the final product,” Swanbourne resident Sylvia Peterson said.

The State Government estimates PFL cuttings and flyovers that eliminate traffic lights will shorten Fremantle Port container truck trips by nine minutes.

Most Swanbourne residents who spoke to Community said they now liked the 1.5km West Coast Highway cutting that cost |$29.7 million in 1999, including sound-deadening bricks and 2.8m private boundary walls that were installed after they lobbied Cottesloe MLA and Premier Colin Barnett.

“But we’re up high, and look over the cutting, and it’s not that bad, but if you were further down the hill or right close to it, it would be awful,” Swanbourne resident Patrick Gillespie said.

Neighbouring Cottesloe residents fought against the cutting’s dual carriageway going south on to Curtin Avenue, where there are now bottlenecks.

The Government has now allocated $40 million to realign the southern end of Curtin Avenue, 3.5km farther south, potentially leaving Cottesloe between upgraded sections of a long-mooted coastal highway, which critics fear could be completed if trucks rat-run to the northern suburbs to avoid the PFL’s toll.

“People along the PFL from Fremantle may not realise just how deep a cutting can go, how ugly it is, how it cut a suburb in half, and while the material and engineering for the Swanbourne project were top-end, they can’t expect that again with a cash-strapped Government,” Cottesloe resident and councillor Sally Pyvis said.

Curtin University transport researcher Cole Hendrigan said by using “basic engineering” he estimated the PFL would be 20m-30m deep through Royal Fremantle Golf Course, in East Fre-|mantle, after being 6.5m deep under nearby Marmion Street, East Fremantle.

“Now, this may seem alarmist, but without some sort of public disclosure we are all left to guess how they will engineer their trench in a complex urban and topographical setting,” Mr Hendrigan said.

Main Roads WA did not reply to questions before deadline.

A PFL Forum will be held at Tricolore Community Centre, Wauhope Road, East Fremantle, at 6.30pm on Wednesday, September 2.