Mandurah Estuary Bridge duplication to open on Wednesday as one lane of old bridge closed for maintenance

For locals, the opening of the Mandurah Estuary Bridge duplication is more than just a ribbon-cutting exercise — it’s a promise of quicker commute times and goodbye to detours and construction.

Premier Roger Cook and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti were in town on Tuesday to let residents know the first cars would be rolling down the highly anticipated bridge duplication from tomorrow.

However, this is not the end of construction woes, which will occur in March, rather a move into the final stage of the project.

The old Mandurah Estuary Bridge will be reduced to one lane for repairs to the asphalt and maintenance.

The duplication was a Labor promise made two terms ago during the push to elect Lisa Munday to the seat of Dawesville in 2021.

Since then, costs have blown out from the original $110m to $148m.

Ms Saffioti said construction costs led to the increase, along with the installation of extensive noise walls.

“Through our negotiations and consultation with the community, in particular in Dudley Park, there was a keenness to extend previously scoped noise walls, which are quite expensive,” she said.

“We want these bridges, this infrastructure, to last for generations, that’s why we make sure we include what we can because we don’t want to come back in two years.”

It is believed the new bridge installation, when complete, will cut commuter time anywhere from five to 10m minutes.

When both bridges are opened, two lanes will run from east to west. And there is potential to expand to three lanes on each side.

“We’ll monitor traffic, I think currently about 33,000 vehicles use this per day and it’s anticipated over the next few decades it will grow to 50,000,” Ms Saffioti said.

“So we’ve created the capacity to facilitate three lanes on each side.”

“We’ll keep monitoring that because it’ll mean basically redoing the lines. But we’ll see how we go in relation to the use.”

Dawesville MLA Lisa Munday, a former paramedic, welcomed the increased capacity as it meant emergency vehicles would no longer get stuck on the bridge.

“When I was a paramedic, the time getting across was significant and quite stressful,” she said.

“For emergency services having a duplicated bridge will just be amazing.

“And when I was out door-knocking, it was something that every single door, they wanted the duplication to happen.”

Mr Cook reminisced about lining up for hours to get through Mandurah during school holidays as a child when there was just one wooden bridge.

“It’s an important piece of infrastructure for the State and we’re really proud of the work that’s been done here,” he said.

“I think we’ve all been surprised as we’ve seen the development of this bridge, it’s made its way across the estuary, in what struck me as double-quick time, and now the bridge is complete.”

Other additions include a 4m-wide shared path, upgrades to the path under the existing bridge, an accessible fishing platform, coloured feature lighting and yarning circles on the east and west foreshores.

Mandurah MP Rhys Williams advocated for the bridge duplication during his time as mayor and was thrilled to see it open.

“There’s a lot of great things about Mandurah but one of the weirdest elements has been this strange three-lane bridge we’ve had a really long time,” he said.

“What we see here is a project that has been supported by Commonwealth and State government funding, and through other means by the local government.

“It’s a great example of when all governments work together, the sort of results that you see.”