Great Eastern Highway

Great Eastern Highway
Great Eastern Highway at The Lakes (a rural locality east of Perth), heading east
Length	595 km (370 mi)
Direction	West-East
From	Canning Highway, Victoria Park
via	Northam, Merredin, Southern Cross, Coolgardie
To	Goldfields Highway via Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie
Established	1890s
Allocation	Victoria Park - Redcliffe & Midland - Coolgardie Victoria Park - Woodbridge Guildford - Midland Coolgardie - Kalgoorlie
Major junctions	Albany Highway/The Causeway, Graham Farmer Freeway/Orrong Road, Tonkin Highway, Great Eastern Highway Bypass, Roe Highway, Great Southern Highway, Northam-Toodyay Road, Coolgardie-Esperance Highway see also Major Perth junctions

The Great Eastern Highway is a major road between the Western Australian cities of Perth and Kalgoorlie. It is a key route for vehicles accessing the eastern wheatbelt and the eastern goldfields. It also forms the westernmost 595 kilometres (370 mi) of the main road transportation link between Perth and the east coast of Australia.

The road is mostly a federally funded national highway due to its national strategic importance. It is signed as National Highway 94 except for a 9 km stretch between the Great Eastern Highway Bypass and Roe Highway, and the 40 km section between Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. It is also signed as Highway 1 between The Causeway and Morrison Road, and State Route 51 between Johnson Street, Guildford, and Roe Highway.

The highway mostly runs in parallel with the Mundaring to Kalgoorlie water pipeline, which pipes drinking water drawn from Mundaring Weir near Perth 600 km east to Kalgoorlie. The highway was sealed by 1954. Two highways spur off Great Eastern Highway at various stages; at Perth's eastern metropolitan boundary the Great Southern Highway begins, which links Perth to such towns as York, Brookton, Narrogin, and Katanning, and 40km prior to arrival at Kalgoorlie the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway begins, which serves, among others Norseman, Esperance, and the east of Australia.

Greenmount Hill

Great Eastern Highway is notorious for Greenmount Hill, which is a relatively steep 3 km long hill on Perth's eastern outskirts.

Greenmount Hill truck arrester bed

At Greenmount Hill, the highway rises from the Swan Coastal Plain to the Darling Scarp at Greenmount. The road is a key heavy vehicle route into and out of Perth, and trucks are required to descend the hill at low speed in low gear. Larger trucks are required to stop at the top of the hill and perform a brake check. Extensive signage has been placed on the down-hill side of the hill to alert truck drivers to their obligations.

A multiple fatal accident in late 1993 at the intersection with Roe Highway occurred where a truck lost control coming down hill and failed to stop. This accident led to the construction of a "truck arrester bed" near the bottom of the hill. It has been used in emergencies several times since.

In the 1960s, a railway level crossing in Bellevue which had been the scene of many accidents was replaced by a bridge which passes over the main Eastern Railway line.

For a part of the Greenmount Hill route, the Old York Road - named because it had been the York Road route in the nineteenth century - runs parallel but at much steeper grades compared to the highway, and rejoins the highway a hundred metres east of Chippers Leap at the top of the main climb of the hill.

Greenmount to Sawyers Valley

Following the sudden rise of Greenmount Hill, the route from the entrance to John Forrest National Park through to Sawyers Valley has a rising and falling route with a reduced speed limit from previous years. The reason is that numerous side roads have lower speed limits, and the difference between the highway speed and side road speed was too great in the eyes of transport managers.

The localities of Mahogany Creek and Mundaring are dissected by the highway, and a set of traffic lights at Mundaring have been erected.

Sawyers Valley to The Lakes

Due to Perth's urban expansion and the growth in traffic on Great Eastern Highway, the previously two-way section of road between Sawyers Valley and The Lakes has been re-aligned and upgraded. The rebuilt section between has deep cuttings and is a dual carriageway, the large borrow pits along the rebuilt section being well away from the highway, but very obvious when viewed from the air.

The Lakes to Kalgoorlie

Great Eastern Highway leaving Bakers Hill for the final section of the Highway to Perth

Great Eastern Highway westbound in Kalgoorlie at Ochiltree Street 594km from Perth

The Highway then heads in a northerly direction with the dual carriageway being reduced to one lane with a speed limit of 110km/h applied nearly all the way except for sections near El Caballo resort, Bakers Hill, The new Clackline Bypass and other towns enroute to Kalgoorlie. The Northam Bypass was built to remove trucks from central Northam and cut travel time by 5-10 minutes by linking a new section with the old sections where Mitchell Avenue and Yilgarn Avenue meets the Highway.

A bushfire on 30 December 2007 in the Boorabbin National Park between Southern Cross and Coolgardie, which cut off the highway, is now the subject of a coronial inquiry. Three truck drivers died following the Department of Environment and Conservation's decision to open the road at the eastern end.

Major settlements

Northam airport, at the junction of the Great Eastern Highway with Route 115

Towns and settlements along the way to Kalgoorlie-Boulder include Northam, Meckering, Cunderdin, Tammin, Kellerberrin, Doodlakine, Merredin, Burracoppin, Bodallin, Moorine Rock, Southern Cross, Yellowdine, Boorabbin, Bullabulling and Coolgardie.

Major Perth Junctions

Approximate road distances (in kilometres) of towns along the highway from Perth

The Perth section of Great Eastern Highway passes through high density and suburbs, and a vast majority of intersections receive little to no control apart from stop signs. Also noteworthy is the fact that many minor intersections are "one in, one out" intersections, that is, turning across traffic to enter or exit the roadway is not an option.

The Perth section of the highway discussed in this section runs from The Causeway interchange in Victoria Park to the intersection with Horace Street/Farrall Road in Midvale. The highway then runs through the outer, less urbanised suburbs of Perth, and leaves urban Perth after passing through Mundaring, 35 kilometres (22 mi) north east of the Perth CBD by road. It does not technically leave Perth until shortly after reaching the Great Southern Highway junction, 48 kilometres (30 mi) north east of the Perth CBD by road.

Perth to Guildford

Signed as :

• The Causeway, Canning Highway, Shepperton Road and Albany Highway, Victoria Park and Burswood
• Bolton Avenue, Burswood
• Graham Farmer Freeway/Orrong Road, Burswood, Lathlain and Rivervale
• Kooyong Road, Rivervale
• Belmont Avenue, Rivervale and Belmont
• Stoneham Street/Belgravia Street/Raconteur Drive, Ascot and Belmont
• Hardey Road, Ascot and Belmont
• Tonkin Highway, Ascot and Redcliffe
• Great Eastern Highway Bypass, South Guildford

Signed as :

• Kalamunda Road, South Guildford

The highway then crosses the Helena River and becomes Johnson Street before making a right turn into James Street in Guildford.

Guildford to Midland

Signed as James Street/East Street:

• Meadow Street, Guildford
• Terrace Road, Guildford

Signed as Great Eastern Highway:

• Morrison Road, Woodbridge and Midland

Signed as :

• Old Great Northern Highway, Midland
• Helena Street, Midland

East from Midland

• Lloyd Street, Midland
• ← → Roe Highway, Midvale

terminates; signed as

• Horace Street/Farrall Road, Midvale
• Scott Street, Greenmount
• Darlington Road, Darlington
• Stoneville Road, Mundaring
• Sawyers Road, Sawyers Valley
• Old Northam Road, Sawyers Valley
• Great Southern Highway, Beechina and The Lakes
• Old Northam Road/Government Road, Wooroloo
• Mitchell Avenue, Northam
• Northam - Toodyay Road, Northam
• Northam - Pithara Road, Northam
• Yilgarn Avenue, Northam
• Dunlop Street to Goomalling - Meckering Road and Dowerin - Meckering Road, Meckering
• Cunderdin - Wyalkatchem Road, Cunderdin
• Cunderdin - Quairading Road, Cunderdin
• Tammin - Wyalkatchem Road, Tammin
• West Crossing Road, Kellerberrin
• Kellerberrin - Yoting Road, Kellerberrin
• East Crossing Road, Kellerberrin
• Kellerberrin - Shackelton Road, Kellerberrin
• Merredin - Narembeen Road, Merredin
• Antares Street, Southern Cross
• Marvel Loch Road, Southern Cross
• Poliars Street, Southern Cross
• Victoria Rock Road, Coolgardie
• Moran Street, Coolgardie
• Hunt Street, Coolgardie
• → Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, Coolgardie

Signed as

• Anzac Drive, Kalgoorlie
• Gatacre Drive, Kalgoorlie
• Boulder Street, Kalgoorlie
• → Goldfields Highway, Kalgoorlie

Upgrades To Great Eastern Highway

Great Eastern Highway is currently receiving major upgrades with one at the Roe Highway intersection with a interchange to be constructed which will allow Roe Highway traffic to flow freely over the Great Eastern Highway, The other upgrade that is also happening at present is widening the highway through Rivervale, Belmont and Redcliffe between Kooyong Road and the Tonkin Highway. This is due to narrow lanes and carrying more cars than expected. When completed in 2014 the highway will have 3 lanes in each direction between The Causeway and Tonkin Highway.

See also

• Highways in Australia
• List of highways in Western Australia

Further reading

• Edmonds, Leigh (1997). The vital link: a history of Main Roads Western Australia 1926-1996. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1-875560-87-4.