City seeks slower speeds on South Terrace

Fremantle Council has voted to formally seek approval to lower the speed limit along South Fremantle’s popular café and restaurant strip.

The council’s Finance, Policy, Operations and Legislation Committee last night agreed to seek approval from Main Roads WA to lower the speed limit on South Terrace between Wray Avenue and Douro Road from 50km/h to 40km/h.

Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said the request to lower the speed limit along South Terrace was in response to a petition from South Fremantle residents.

“The South Fremantle strip has really taken off in the past few years, with some fantastic new shops, cafés and restaurants opening up and even more to come,” Mayor Pettitt said.

“But the issue of cars speeding along South Terrace has been a real concern for local residents and businesses in the area for some time.

“Back in 2016 we held a series of community workshops and forums to discuss ways to not only reduce speeds and make South Terrace safer but also rejuvenate the streetscape and support local businesses by making it a nicer and more inviting place to be.

“In order to convince Main Roads to reduce the speed limit we actually have to demonstrate that lower speeds are workable, which is why we installed the temporary speed humps along South Terrace in 2017 and later upgraded the intersection around Little Lefroy Lane and Sydney Street.

“Traffic monitoring since then has shown a significant decrease in average speeds, which means we are now in a position to apply for a permanent 40km/h speed limit along South Terrace.

“Over the coming years we also plan to do streetscape upgrades at more of the intersections along South Terrace, which will make South Fremantle an even better place to be and eventually mean we can remove all of the temporary speed humps that I know some in the community find annoying.”

The streetscape improvements at the intersection of Little Lefroy Lane and Sydney Street were completed in November 2018.

They involved replacing the temporary speed humps in that section with a single raised platform, as well as reducing the width of the road, changing the colour of the road surface, introducing some colourful patterns to the roadway, widening the footpath and adding new paving, street furniture and trees.

Similar treatments are planned at five other intersections along South Terrace at Jenkin Street, Scott Street, Charles Street, Nelson Street and in the vicinity of Orient Street.

The budget to complete the remainder of the streetscape improvements has been included for consideration as part of the City’s ten year financial plan.