The final stage of the controversial Perth Freight Link project linking WA's first toll road to Fremantle port will involve expanding Stirling Bridge, not digging a tunnel under the Swan River, the premier says.
Liberal leader Colin Barnett contradicted Jandakot MP and minister Joe Francis, who told 6PR radio on Tuesday "we'll find a solution that will no doubt probably go underneath the river".
Mr Barnett said the final stage, which will follow on from the Roe 9 tunnel emerging in East Fremantle at a yet-to-be-determined location, would involve adjustments to the road system in North Fremantle.
"We're not going under the river, we're not going over the river, anything like that," he told reporters.
"We are not tunnelling under the Swan River - it's extremely deep. That's not feasible."
Mr Barnett said the existing bridge, completed in 1974, would be "fine for a while" but may have an extra lane added "well into the future".
It could also be duplicated, he said, and intersection works would be needed to avoid congestion.
Opposition treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt pounced on Mr Barnett contradicting Mr Francis as evidence of a party no longer fit to rule.
"This is a government that's a mess - it's lost the right to be in government," Mr Wyatt told reporters.
Mr Francis hit out at opponents to the project, who have labelled Roe 9 a "road to nowhere" because the route of the final link to the port - which Mr Barnett doesn't want to call Roe 10 - has not been decided upon.
"I've had a gutful of the lies and the misinformation and the rumours and the bulldust that has been spread by the opponents to this project time and time and time again," Mr Francis said.
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