Plans to mitigate traffic congestion when the Fremantle bridge shuts in six weeks could push up transport costs and consumer prices, the transport industry is warning.

The 86-year-old Fremantle Bridge will close on February 1 for up to a year and be rebuilt at a cost of $430 million to create a higher clearance for boats, with traffic to be diverted to the nearby Stirling Bridge.

Concept designs for the new Fremantle Traffic Bridge over the Swan River. (Supplied: Main Roads)

Transport authorities predict it will have a “severe” impact on the road network and create significant delays, with Transport Minister Rita Saffioti flagging the possibility of limiting truck movements across Stirling Bridge during the morning peak.

But industry leaders oppose the idea.

“It’s thrown us under the bus pretty close to go time,” said Brian Hack, the Managing Director of EES Shipping, a medium sized, family-owned trucking company based in Cockburn.

Higher consumer costs

The government has already announced measures aimed at reducing the congestion, including changing the road network, free public transport through Fremantle, extra train and bus services, and permanent incident response teams on Stirling Highway.

But with six weeks to go, the transport industry wants certainty and said it was running out of time to prepare for potential truck limits.

Brian Hack says limiting trucks on Stirling Highway at peak times would drive up costs.  (ABC News: Nicolas Perpitch)

Mr Hack said if trucks were banned for two hours in the morning peak and two hours in the afternoon peak, freight would need to to be delivered later in the day or at night, creating bottlenecks and higher costs across the supply chain.

He said drivers would need to be paid penalty rates, and extra drivers and other staff hired for night shifts.

“So in the end, there’s just going to be more costs for the end consumer,” he said.

“Everyone that I’ve spoken to in the last couple of days has thought it’s been a joke, because it’s just not tenable, especially this far out.”

The transport industry says it’s running out of time to prepare for potential truck limits on Stirling Bridge.  (ABC News: Nicolas Perpitch)

Up to 30 per cent hike 

Cam Dumesny, the chief executive of road transport peak body Western Roads Federation, estimated it would push trucking costs up by 20 to 30 per cent.

“Everything that we bring into the port, you know, a lot of building materials we bring in for housing, bars, whatever, all that’s going to go up,” he said.

“A lot of the grocery lines we buy come from overseas, all of that’s going to go up.”

Cam Dumesny says costs could increase by up to 30 per cent.  (ABC News: Nicolas Perpitch)

Ms Saffioti said some companies were already planning to self-regulate and change their times of operation.

“It may be something that industry, in a sense, undertakes its own changes in its own way to make sure that they’re not contributing or caught up in any unnecessary congestion,” she said.

Rita Saffioti has flagged the possibility of limiting truck movements across Stirling Bridge during the morning peak. (ABC News: Nicholas Martyr)

Avoiding ‘carmageddon’

Rather than restricting port access, industry wants to be allowed to move more freight with fewer trucks.

The Fremantle Traffic Bridge is being rebuilt at a cost of $430 million. (ABC News: Nicolas Perpitch)

Along with Fremantle Mayor Ben Lawver and the Greens, freight companies want permission to use modern trucks, called High Productivity Freight Vehicles (HPFV), to and from the port.

They argued these trucks were more efficient, quieter and able to carry more containers, resulting in fewer and cleaner trucks on the roads.

“If you allow us to run the same east coast combinations, which are higher productivity, more efficient, we can actually reduce the number of trucks by say, 30 per cent,” Mr Dumesny said.

Mr Lawver said most truck operations to the port were during business hours — but these could be spread further.

“If we could just shift from only using that one third of available hours during the week, to the two other thirds, I think we’ll see a huge relief of pressure on people when they’re trying to commute and get across the river during the day,” Mr Lawver said.

He said it was not too late to avoid “carmageddon”.

“If we can encourage that night-time running for the trucks with HPFVs, cleaner, quieter … I think we’ll see a real shift in us and how we get through the bridge closure.”

The transport industry supports working at night and weekends but wants incentives, like cheaper port access.

Loading

Source