Road Photos & Information: Western Australia

Kwinana Freeway & Mitchell Freeway

Statistics:

• Length: 68 km (Kwinana Fwy: 42 km. Mitchell Fwy: 30 km)
• Northern Terminus: Burns Beach Road (SR87) at Currambine in Perth's northern suburbs
• Southern Terminus: the roundabout with Baldivis Road and Safety Bay Road (SR18) at Baldivis in Perth's southern suburbs
• Suburbs, Towns & Localities along route: Baldivis, Kwinana, Anketell, Hammond Park, Jandakot, Bateman, Salter Point, Como, South Perth, Perth, Northbridge, Leederville, Glendalough, Osborne Park, Stirling, Gwelup, Hamersley, Duncraig, Kingsley, Woodvale, Heathridge, Joondalup, Connolly and Currambine

Route Numbering:

• Current:
• Duplexed with:
• Main Roads WA Internal Classfication: H15 Kwinana Freeway and H16 Mitchell Freeway *****

General Information:

The Kwinana and Mitchell Freeways are without a doubt one of the most important road systems in the Perth metropolitan area, and the southwestern part of the state.

Running in a north-south direction, the freeways link the north and southern suburbs of Perth together, but also act as a coastal link between the northern and southern parts of the state. Built in stages from the late 1950s the route has seen enormous changes / extensions and is still undergoing massive expansion to this day.

Unique to these 2 freeways is the passenger railway line down the median of the freeway, which in parts also travels alongside other modes of public transport such as buses.

The freeway varies from 2 to 3 lanes wide in each direction, with provision in most of the newer sections to have another 1 to 2 lanes to be added when required. Exits along the route are somewhat close together, this is probably due to the large number of suburbs state route 2 services.

When first planned, the Mitchell Fwy was called the Yanchep Highway, as its envisaged that eventually the route will connect to the town.

State Route 2 is joined by National Route 1 at Brentwood from the Leach Hwy (SR7) interchange, forming a duplex through to the Canning Hwy (SR6) interchange at Como.

History (Kwinana Fwy):

• 1957: Commencement of construction of the Narrows Bridge and first stage of the Kwinana Fwy. *
• 1967: Construction of the Kwinana Freeway in inner southern Perth suburbs. *
• 3 December 1976: South Perth interchange opened. *****
• 1975: Additional land reserved for the future extension of the Kwinana Fwy. **
• 19 July 1979: Kwinana Freeway / Canning interchange including Manning Road Bridge fully operational. *****
• October 1980: Narrows Bridge median lane opened to Northbound traffic. *****
• 29 March 1982: Narrows Bridge median lane opened to southbound peak traffic, thus becoming a reversible lane. *****
• 9 May 1982: Mt Henry Bridge and Kwinana Freeway extension (6.5 km) from Canning Bridge to South Street opened. *****
• February 1987: Introduction of bus lanes. *
• 18 December 1989: Kwinana Fwy bus lane Canning Bridge to city opened. *****
• 14 July 1991: Kwinana Freeway from South St to Farrington Rd opened. *****
• 12 December 1991: Kwinana Freeway from Farrington Rd to Forrest Rd opened. *****
• November 1991: Kwinana Freeway bus lane extended from Canning Bridge to Mt Henry Bridge. *****
• 11 September 1994: Extension of Kwinana Freeway from Forrest Road to Thomas Road Kwinana opened on by Kim Beazley. *
• 1999-2001: Construction of the South West Metropolitan Railway down the centre of the freeway alignment - this was done by relocating 16 kilometres of existing northbound carriageway 15 metres westwards. Also part of the works was the construction of a 12km freeway extension southwards from Thomas Road to Safety Bay Road, including interchanges at Mortimer and Mundijong Road and freeway overpasses at Millar Road. ****
• 12 March 2006: the connection of the Roe Highway Stage 7, from South Street to the Kwinana Freeway, officially opened to traffic. *****
• 2009: expected completion of the Perth to Bunbury Highway - bypassing the heavily populated areas in Mandurah and the Dawesville Peninsula, and avoiding the inland communities on South Western Highway. The Kwinana Freeway Extension, together with the Peel Deviation, will provide a continuous dual carriageway from Perth to the South West. The 70 km of new road will extend the dual carriageway from Kwinana Freeway at Safety Bay Road, around the eastern side of the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary to join the existing dual carriageway on the Old Coast Road near Lake Clifton. The New Perth Bunbury Highway will be constructed to a freeway standard from Safety Bay Road to Pinjarra Road with the remainder of the route being built as a rural highway. In the future as traffic demands increase, the highway will be upgraded to a freeway standard for its entire length. *****

History (Mitchell Fwy):

• 1967 to 1973: construction of the section between the Narrows Bridge and Sutherland Street West Perth commenced - eventually forming the Narrows Interchange.
• 8 March 1976: Mitchell Freeway extension (1.6 km) from Railway Parade to Vincent Street opened. (Stage 2). *****
• 2 June 1978: Mitchell Freeway extension (4.8 km) from Vincent Street to Hutton Street opened. (Stage 3). *****
• 12 December 1983: Mitchell Freeway extension (3.5 km) from Roberts Street to Karrinyup Road opened. (Stage 4). *****
• 21 September 1984: Mitchell Freeway extension (1.8 km) from Karrinyup Road to Erindale Road opened. *****
• 6 August 1986: Mitchell Freeway extension to Hepburn Avenue opened. *****
• 1987: the freeway extended to Ocean Reef Road Craigie.
• 2 July 1988: Mitchell Freeway to Ocean Reef Road opened. *****
• 1992: the median strip of widened for the Joondalup railway line. Also, Mitchell Fwy widening to McDonald St completed. *****
• 1993: Mitchell Fwy widening to Erindale Rd completed, providing three lanes in each direction. *****
• 2001: freeway extension to Hodges Dr at Joondalup opened.
• 2 November 2008: $171.5 million extension to Burns Beach Road Currambine opened to traffic by State Premier, Colin Barnett. *****

Perth to Joondalup (Mitchell Freeway)	Balvidis to Perth (Kwinana Freeway)

* Information courtesy of the State Library of Western Australia
** Information courtesy of Australasian Legal Information Institute
*** Information courtesy of the National Library of Australia
**** Information courtesy of the Australian Institute of Project Management
***** Information courtesy of Main Roads WA

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