AN army of football fans will cross the long-awaited and oft-delayed Matagarup Bridge for the first time ahead of Fremantle’s round 17 clash with Port Adelaide on July 15, Planning Minister Rita Saffioti has revealed.

But before that can happen a 300-strong battalion, hand-picked from the men and women who have worked on the $91.5 million project, will march, jump and run along its 400m span as part of a final “tune-up” to avoid the expensive teething problems that plagued London’s Millennium Bridge.

The now iconic UK suspension bridge opened to great fanfare in June 2000 — before promptly closing later the same day when green-faced users discovered it had a propensity to swing wildly from side to side.

It took more than 18 months and $9 million to fix the pedestrian span, which was nicknamed “Wobbly Bridge” by Londoners and did not successfully reopen until February 2002.

A similar setback would be a rotten cherry on top of a tumultuous four and a half years for the Perth project, first announced by the Barnett Government in February 2014 when it was estimated construction would finish ahead of Optus Stadium at the end of 2016.

A series of missteps, most notably the decision to award and then tear up a contract for much of the fabricating work to a Malaysian company, has seen that timeline blow out 18 months.

Camera Icon An image of the Matagarup Bridge that connects East Perth to the Burswood Peninsula. The bridge will allow access for people to walk to Optus Stadium from East Perth for major events. Credit: Birds eye media. Pilot: Jaxon Roberts.

Main Roads WA project director Ilario Spagnolo is confident the end is in sight and said engineers around the world had learned from the Millennium Bridge experience.

“These kinds of bridges are designed to move but not to an extent where it is uncomfortable for people to walk on them,” he said.

“After what happened in London new standards were introduced and we now carry out what is called dynamic testing to make sure the bridge moves in accordance with its design.”

Concrete pouring on the bridge deck is due to finish today, with the testing process commencing next week.

It involves groups of up to 300 people walking, running and marching along individual spans of the bridge in specific patterns, with a complex network of sensors monitoring how the bridge responds.

A tuned mass damper — essentially a giant shock absorber — built into the bridge can then be fine-tuned to counter-attack excessive sway or vibration.

“Then we do stage two where we get 50 people to come back and actually march and jump in unison or run in a controlled manner and again monitor how the bridge reacts,” Mr Spagnolo said.

“If everything is acceptable, the bridge is signed off and commissioned.”

Having enjoyed a front row seat through much of the construction process, Ms Saffioti said despite the delays she believed Matagarup Bridge would quickly become synonymous with Perth.

“It is a beautiful addition to the river and to our skyline, and you won’t see anything like it anywhere else in the world,” she said.

“I think it is going to be an iconic part of Perth.”

She said the setbacks could partly be attributed to a Barnett Government that wildly underestimated the cost and complexity of the ambitious design chosen, which was originally budgeted at $54 million.

“This is a once-in-a-generation construction task; you don’t build bridges like this every day of the week,” Ms Saffioti said.

“As a result, every part of the construction process has been unique and I have been in complete awe of the engineering answers the team has developed to answer all of the challenges along the way.”

Mr Spagnolo said he believed the cable-sway bridge was the first of its kind in Australia.

It is comprised of 72 individual modules, each of which had to be custom fabricated in workshops around Perth.

“One of the biggest challenges was getting those modules from land up into the air once they were on site,” Mr Spagnolo said.

“We had to go through a rigorous process to make sure the structure didn’t move which involved two big barges and large lifting platforms to get each piece into place.”

Matagarap Bridge also shapes as an important addition to Perth’s tourism bucket list. It has been designed to include a 70m high viewing platform above its central arch and will provide thrill-seekers with an opportunity to scale the structure and enjoy sweeping views over the Swan River, CBD and Optus Stadium.