William St Bridge demolition provides new opportunities for foreshore roads

22/8/04
Demolition of the landmark William Street Bridge provides an opportunity to radically rethink the Perth foreshore's road network, according to Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan.
As the bridge's final pylons come down, Ms MacTiernan announced a study aimed at making the foreshore more accessible to the community by restructuring the road network between the Esplanade/Mounts Bay Road and the Narrows Interchange.
The Minister said until now the bridge, built in the late 1960s, had been a visual and physical barrier between the city and the foreshore.
"We have a great opportunity to radically rethink the foreshore road network and restore William Street to a pedestrian-friendly city boulevard," she said.

"The current road system is the result of the partial implementation of an extraordinary scheme (in the 1963 MRS plan) to ring the Perth CBD with freeways - these were the days when traffic engineers were king and planning focussed on cars rather than people.
"After the first component of the city freeway - the Narrows Interchange and its link and the William Street Bridge, the remainder of the project - the proposed Foreshore Freeway - was mercifully abandoned.
"The new Metrorail project and bridge demolition means we can unpick the last of the ravages of that failed attempt to collar the city with freeways.
"The creation of a waterfront village from the foot of William Street, west to the freeway, provides an unprecedented opportunity to re-establish the historical connection between the city and the foreshore."

Interim traffic modelling undertaken by the Department for Planning and Infrastructure has identified opportunities to redesign the existing road network so that roads can be realigned away from the foreshore.
"At the very least, we will be able to realign the roads, pushing them back from the foreshore to allow better public access to this precious land and enable the creation of a western foreshore precinct on the river, where previously there were only roads," Ms MacTiernan said.

The department will now carry out design workshops and further modelling and testing with Main Roads WA and other stakeholders.
Minister's office: 9213 6400