After months of empty roads and shops, North Fremantle is getting an ‘early Christmas present’

For North Fremantle business owners, Christmas is arriving two months early.

After months of enduring a ghost town of empty roads and dwindling foot traffic, local traders are breathing a sigh of relief as the official opening date of the new Fremantle Traffic Bridge was set for November 1.

The bridge was originally tipped to open in the first half of 2027, but fast-tracked construction has enabled it to open early.

Old Bridge Cellars owner Jay Beeson said the news came as a great surprise after months of trading with significantly less foot traffic.

“It was a lovely sort of early Christmas present to wake up to,” he said.

“There were rumours on the strip that it was going to open hopefully sometime in November, but to hear that officially was amazing news.”

Beeson said the impact of the closure was as bad as they expected, “which was quite horrific”.

“The stats from the Fremantle Port was that there’s 90 per cent less cars driving down this road, and for us about 40 per cent less foot traffic through the door,” he said.

“So it’s pretty substantial, but we think it will spring back pretty quick because everyone’s going to want to drive over the new bridge.”

Beeson said the support from the North Fremantle community kept them afloat since the closure in February.

“We just wanted to keep all the staff employed, keep the door open, and we had some amazing support from the locals because they didn’t want to go out into the traffic,” he said.

“So we saw an uptick from the local community, but we look forward to welcoming all our customers back.”

Ooh Coffee manager Joel Smith said the local businesses on the street were looking forward to having more foot traffic.

“We’ve been hearing over the last few months that the bridge might open sooner so it wasn’t too much of a surprise, but still great to hear,” he said.