Part of a series of posts by Neil Cownie on The Future of Swanbourne Village

The local community, and in particular, the Saladin Street residents, are concerned that the proposed relocated replacement bridge will create such efficiency in vehicle transfer across the bridge that it will create an increase in traffic volume that would be detrimental to their every day life experience. I feel that such concerns can, and should be, addressed by Main Roads Western Australia (MRWA) in their design of the new bridge.

There are simple measures than can be taken in the design of the bridge and the surrounding streets to address the local community concerns such as the following.

  1. Designing the new replacement traffic bridge to accommodate standard vehicles and medium sized commercial trucks only. The bridge should not be designed to accommodate large articulated trucks that do not currently use the existing bridge.
  2. The surface of the new traffic bridge could discourage vehicles form reaching higher speeds when crossing the bridge. With the selection of an appropriate surface material speed limits across the bridge can be limited, thereby discouraging use of the bridge as a ‘cut though’ for cars outside the local community area.
  3. Proposed ‘Kiss N Drop’ zones on either side of the bridge that would apply to parking areas during the peak use times at school drop off and school pick up would alleviate the need for some school related traffic to cross the bridge. Parents dropping or collecting children can do so from these ‘Kiss N Drop’ locations before using the round abouts to either side of the bridge to return home after the drop off or collection. This would reduce the volume of vehicles passing over the bridge and impacting on the Saladin Street residents.
  4. Areas of both Railway Street and Claremont Crescent would be resurfaced in paving that expressed those portions of the road in such paving as being primarily pedestrian orientated zones. This would not only encourage a pedestrian orientated ‘walkable neighbourhood’ within the Swanbourne Village, but it would also reduce the likelihood of vehicles looking to use this as a route to ‘cut through’.
  5. A new pedestrian and cyclists bridge proposed in the location of the existing bridge would reinforce and enhance the pedestrian orientated environment within the Swanbourne Village.
  6. The proposed new pedestrian bridge provides a strong connection to the possible new ‘pedestrian plaza’ in the existing Rob Roy laneway.
  7. The proposed new pedestrian bridge design includes an underpass for the Fremantle to Perth cycle path which allows cyclists and vehicles to transfer through the area safely without coming into conflict.

Go back to the The Future of Swanbourne Village

The Bridging Communities Series