New chapter begins in Fremantle as Walyalup Bridge set to open

It's been 70 years since Jan Middleton and her two colleagues survived a dramatic plunge off the old Fremantle Traffic Bridge, their car plummeting 10 metres to land on its roof.

It was 1956 and Ms Middleton, then 22, was giving her co-worker, Barbara Shimmon, a driving lesson during their lunch break.

Their colleague Thelma Davies decided to tag along, eating her lunch in the back seat as the trio headed towards Fremantle from Mosman Park.

"As we approached the bridge, it was sprinkling rain and we hit a bit of wet oil in the road," Ms Middleton said.

"We did two complete circles in the middle of the road, slewed across [and] hit one of the cement pillars."

Ms Middleton said the car flipped backwards off the bridge.

"We teetered on the side before over we went and landed on the hood," she said.

"I recall feeling disappointed, because I knew I was going to die.

"After that I gave up teaching friends to drive."

Astonishingly, all three women escaped the wreck without serious injury.

"For the next week to go to work, we all took cushions because our bones were bruised, but apart from that, we were fine," Ms Middleton said.

New chapter for bridge

Now aged 92, Ms Middleton will be among the first to walk across the new Fremantle Traffic Bridge, officially named Walyalup Bridge, when it opens on Sunday, four months ahead of schedule.

The 86-year-old wooden bridge was closed in February to allow for the construction of the new bridge, which was expected to take 12 months. 

But while the project is ahead of schedule, the final price tag has more than doubled from the initial cost announced in 2021 of $230 million, now coming in at $596m. 

Traffic authorities warned of potentially significant delays, prompting the government to consider limiting truck movements across the Stirling Bridge at peak hour to limit traffic congestion.

Authorities implemented several changes to the local transport network to accommodate the closure, including additional train and bus services, more free parking bays for SmartRider users and increased monitoring of traffic via CCTV.

The new, 500-metre bridge has the same number of traffic lanes but wider pedestrian paths and a higher clearance for boats and is the first "extradosed" bridge to be built in Australia, combining both cantilevers and cable stay supports.

Walyalup Bridge is the third Fremantle Traffic Bridge. The first was built by convicts in the mid 1800s and the second opened in 1939.