South Fremantle’s busiest intersection set for redesign following community outcry

The fate of a busy Fremantle road known for “near death” pedestrian experiences has been made public.

The Douro Road and South Terrace roundabout in South Fremantle has been identified as needing road surface resurfacing, traffic calming changes and pedestrian safety improvements after several dangerous crashes. In 2022, a fatal accident occurred when an 81-year-old man was hit by a truck while trying to cross an intersection.

The roundabout connects to South Beach, Wilson Park, North Coogee and a range of cafes and shops, and locals have been pushing to make the busy area safer for years.

Following public consultation and a road safety audit, city officials presented a concept plan to build two new crosswalks and replace the median strip. Trees and some parking areas may be removed to accommodate the additions.

The council voted last week to support withdrawing the plan for consultation.

Cr Williamson-Wong said community-led town team research last year had highlighted the importance of the project.

“Community conversation, funded by town staff, showed that every single one of the 60 people will have a good experience at this roundabout if they’re in a car. And every single one of the 60 people will have a bad experience if they try to go through this roundabout,” he said.

“We know that calming traffic helps pedestrians, but that also means cars are still at the heart of why we change things, and in fact this project is clearly about pedestrians.”

Pedestrian crossings will be installed on the north and west legs of the junction and city infrastructure manager Graeme Tattersall said these were the safest areas.

To ensure drivers can properly see the crossings, two mature Norfolk pine trees in the median strip were marked for removal in the concept plan.

Cr Williamson-Wong said in his experience it was “not possible” to protect the trees and create a safe crossing.

“It’s going to be very sad to lose two big Norfolk pines, but… I’m pretty confident in the analysis to ensure a safe line of sight when a child, a pet, or a small thing with a large adult is going through this intersection… the risk of them getting stuck behind a tree and then getting clipped is very low, which is definitely the worst outcome,” he said.

“It will be a very interesting and good test of how our community feels about trees and pedestrian priority and how we do that balancing act.”

Cr Sullivan suggested changes for officers to consider including cycle paths on the road and revegetation opportunities along verges to offset tree removal.

Cr Graham did not support the changes, questioning the need to spend “buckets” of money on cycle facilities along “a road for cars”.

“We should think of the Douro Road as a road for cars. I don’t think we should really start messing with cycle lanes on this road to Marine Terrace,” he said.

“There’s no budget for any of this. I realize there’s no cost to any of this.”

“Eventually if all goes well, the roundabout that is being repaired is going to cost another $500,000 to add all these other little additions, regardless of what that costs.”

He suggested bringing the project back into budget estimates so it could go through the “correct process.”

Cr Williamson-Wong said local people had been “shouting to the rafters” for better cycling infrastructure for years.

“The changes do not currently require further funding or design of cycleways. All that has been said is that this council supports future applications subject to more detailed design,” he said.

“We allocated a budget for this project. I hope it stays within that budget, because that’s why we prepared budgets.”

The council initially allocated $400,000 in the city’s 2025/26 budget for safety improvements along South Terrace and Douro Road. A further $600,000 has been proposed in the draft 2026/27 budget for pedestrian crossing treatments.

Cr Sullivan stressed the proposal was set out for consultation and the city was not bound by any decision.

“These are all subject to further detailed design as specifically stated in the amendment,” he said.

“There have been numerous near-death incidents, including the deaths on the Douro Trail.

“The elected member request that was included in the budget a few years ago was mainly about improving pedestrian functionality at that intersection. So we accepted that and put it in the budget as a legitimate process and project.”

The changes made it 8-1. Councilors voted unanimously to submit the concept plan for further consultation with the community.