Mends Street closure helps prepare for Connect South opening

To progress the $7.5 million Connect South project toward completion, Mends Street will be closed to traffic between Mill Point Road and South Perth Esplanade from 10pm, Sunday 10 November until 10pm, Tuesday 12 November.* 

The closure will facilitate street painting, one of the elements that carries the Connect South theme from the new Mends Street piazza towards Perth Zoo and greater South Perth.

From Sunday evening, the road will be marked and painted and will require drying, the timing of which will be weather and temperature dependent. The contractor will re-open Mends Street to traffic as soon as the paint is fully dry, hopefully as early as Tuesday morning. 

While there is no vehicular access allowed on the street during this time, pedestrians will still be able to use the footpaths and pedestrian crossing, and all businesses will be operating as usual.

Vehicle and bike diversions will be in place:

• Vehicles travelling on South Perth Esplanade should use Queen Street to access Mill Point Road.
• Vehicles on Mill Point Road wishing to access South Perth Esplanade should use Queen Street if travelling west and Ray Street if travelling east.

Access to private driveways will be maintained, but will need to be requested from traffic management personnel where necessary.

Connect South is expected to be completed later this month, with minor works still required to put the finishing touches on the area. These include: 

• Seating, street furniture and new decking along the foreshore area
• Paving beneath and around the canopies 
• A laser-etched screen featuring native flora around the Western Power substation to the west of the project area
• Two parklets along Mends Street
• Meerkat artworks, which will join the emus in place at the piazza, as well as along Mends Street 
• Sand sculptures in the natural shaded area
• A lighting chandelier and catenary (suspended) lighting in the piazza
• Soft landscaping, treeplanting and turf laid along the foreshore area.

In recent months, improvement works to the footpath at the end of Mends Street have been completed, and a raised concrete area now provides a pedestrian-friendly road crossing at the intersection of Mends Street and South Perth Esplanade.

Bud lighting has been installed in the trees along Mends Street and new street lighting and artwork illumination will add an element of vibrancy to the area when activated at night. 

The Connect South area is scheduled to open in late November with Gobo projection lighting installation to follow in December. The lighting is currently in the late stages of testing.

*Dates subject to change.

For enquiries about the road painting works, contact Darryl Flammer at MG Group on 0451 010 747.