Kwinana Freeway

Kwinana Freeway
Kwinana Freeway looking south, as seen from Kings Park in 2008
Length	78 km (48 mi)
Direction	North-South
From	Mitchell Freeway, Perth, Western Australia
Major suburbs	South Perth, Como, Bull Creek, Murdoch, Cockburn Central, Baldivis, Karnup
To	Pinjarra Road, Barragup, Western Australia
Established	1970s
Allocation	All sections Canning Highway - Leach Highway
Major junctions	Canning Highway Leach Highway Roe Highway for full list see Exits and Interchanges

The Kwinana Freeway is a major arterial road in Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth with the southern suburbs and then further on towards Mandurah, a distance of 78 km (48 mi). It has a speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph), except in central Perth (80 km/h, 50 mph) and south of Lakes Road (110 km/h, 68 mph). Like all Western Australian freeways, the minimum allowed speed, where safe, is always 20 km/h (12 mph) less than the maximum speed limit. The freeway, like the Mitchell Freeway, has been allocated State Route 2 and is part of National Highway 1 between Canning Highway and Leach Highway.

The Kwinana Freeway is a dual carriageway with five lanes in each direction north of Mill Point Road, and three or four lanes north of Leach Highway. South of that point, it generally has two lanes in each direction, with sufficient lateral clearance under bridges for additional future lanes. It also acts as part of the boundary for many of Perth's southern suburbs. The Mandurah railway line runs in the freeway median between the city and the suburb of Mandogalup, where it then deviates to the west towards the city of Rockingham and south to Mandurah.

History

The first portion of the present Kwinana Freeway was completed in 1959, with a speed set at 50 mph (80 km/h) when the Narrows Bridge was opened and a dual carriageway urban road built to Canning Highway. It was upgraded to freeway standard in the 1970s, with the Judd Street bridge being opened in 1976, and the Canning Highway interchange in 1979.

A major southern extension was built between 1979 and 1982 which extended the freeway 7 km (4.3 mi) further south past Leach Highway to South Street. This included construction of the Mount Henry Bridge, which is Western Australia's longest at 660 m (720 yd).

Mount Henry Bridge

The third stage, opened in 1991, extended the freeway another 9 km (5.6 mi) to Forrest Road (Now Armadale Road/Beeliar Drive).

The fourth stage, opened in 1994, brought the freeway closer to Rockingham, in the process opening up the then undeveloped southern suburbs in the City of Cockburn. This extension was not built to freeway standard (though the new road was still named Kwinana Freeway) because of insufficient funding required to build the five necessary interchange bridges. South of Farrington Road, there were traffic lights (complete with "end of freeway" and "start of freeway" signs) at each intersection.

A fifth stage was completed in 2002, including:

• a 12 km (7.5 mi) extension to Safety Bay Road, south of Rockingham;
• interchanges at the five intersections previously controlled by traffic lights; and
• the Kwinana Freeway Bus Transitway, comprising
  • a two-lane busway between the Esplanade Busport and Canning Highway;
  • a northbound bus lane between Canning Highway and Murdoch Park 'n' Ride; and
  • The Canning Bridge Transfer Station, allowing passengers to transfer between Kwinana Freeway and Canning Highway bus services.

During the afternoon on 13 May 2005, a water pipe burst near the southbound Mill Point Road freeway onramp in South Perth. This resulted in widespread flooding in the area, submerging the southbound lanes of the freeway, and collapsed the onramp. This caused traffic gridlock throughout the city and much of the metropolitan area, lasting well into the night. On average it took people over two hours to travel^{[citation needed]} between the Mill Point Road exit in South Perth to Canning Highway in Como along the parallel Labouchere Road.

In mid-2006, the Bus Transitway was closed permanently in order to allow construction of the Mandurah railway line, completed in 2007. After rail services commenced, most freeway bus services ceased, however dedicated on-ramps, off-ramps and short priority lanes were provided for the remaining services between Canning Highway and Perth.

The Freeway at Cockburn, facing south

Construction of a 32 km (20 mi) extension south to Pinjarra Road and the Murray River at South Yunderup was completed in 2009. South of Pinjarra Road construction was also completed on the Forrest Highway, a 38 km (24 mi) dual carriageway rural highway formerly known as the "Peel Deviation". The Forrest Highway takes traffic around the Eastern side of the Peel-Harvey Estuary to join the existing dual carriageway on Old Coast Road at Lake Clifton. The highway was constructed with the ability to upgrade to freeway standard in the future. The joint freeway and highway construction project was known as the "New Perth Bunbury Highway" during construction until the highway was named.

The freeway and highway will divert traffic around Mandurah cutting traffic in Mandurah and reducing the journey time from Perth to Bunbury, especially during school holidays where families take the time to travel to Western Australia's South-west. The Kwinana Freeway extension and Forrest Highway were opened on 20 September 2009

Future works

Works to widen the freeway between Leach Highway and Roe Highway from two to three lanes in each direction began in early April 2011 and will take approximately 12 months to complete. The $58m project was brought forward to ease increased congestion on this part of the freeway.

At the Manning Road interchange there are plans for a southbound on-ramp, but the project is not currently funded and is made more difficult by two blocks of flats that would require demolition.

Exits and interchanges

A Transperth bus travelling on the Narrows Bridge, heading southbound

Kwinana Freeway as viewed from Cranford Avenue bridge. Leach Highway bridge and future Bull Creek train station is visible.

Kwinana Freeway from Leeming, near the Farrington Road interchange. Perth CBD is visible in the distance.

The North end of Kwinana Freeway begins in the Narrows traffic interchange with Mitchell Freeway. The interchange is at the North end of the Narrows Bridge. A 32 kilometre extension of the freeway, opened in September 2009, has the Kwinana Freeway terminating at Pinjarra Road to the east of Mandurah.

Local government area	Location/s	km	Destination	Notes
Perth	Perth	1.8	Mitchell Freeway north – Stirling, Joondalup	Kwinana Freeway begins
			Narrows Bridge
South Perth	South Perth	2.2	Mill Point Road - South Perth	Northbound exit only
		2.8	Mill Point Road via Judd Street - South Perth	Northbound entrance and southbound exit/entrance
	Como	4.6	South Terrace	Southbound exit only
		7.1	Canning Highway - Victoria Park, Fremantle	Start concurrency with . Connects with both the freeway and Manning Road. Canning Bridge train station is located here.
		7.5	Manning Road – Manning, Curtin University, Cannington	Northbound entrance and southbound exit. Connects with both the freeway and Canning Highway.
		10	Mount Henry Bridge	Longest bridge in Western Australia
Melville	Mount Pleasant, Brentwood	10.8	Cranford Avenue	Northbound entance and southbound exit only
	Brentwood, Bull Creek, Bateman	11.5	Leach Highway - Booragoon, Fremantle, Riverton, Kewdale	End concurrency with . Bull Creek train station is here.
	Bateman, Bull Creek, Leeming, Murdoch	13.6	South Street - Fremantle, Kardinya, Murdoch University, Willetton, Canning Vale	Murdoch train station is located here
	Murdoch, Leeming	15	Farrington Road - Leeming, North Lake	Northbound entance and southbound exit only
Cockburn	North Lake, Leeming, Western Australia, Jandakot, Bibra Lake	16	Roe Highway - Canning Vale, Forrestfield, Midland	Trumpet interchange
	South Lake, Jandakot, Cockburn Central	18.5	Berrigan Drive - South Lake, Jandakot
	Cockburn Central, Jandakot, Atwell, Success	20.6	Armadale Road - Harrisdale, Armadale Beeliar Drive - Yangebup, Beeliar	Cockburn Central train station is located here
	Success, Atwell, Aubin Grove, Hammond Park	24	Russell Road – Henderson Gibbs Road - Banjup
Kwinana	Hammond Park, Aubin Grove, Wandi, Mandogalup	26.6	Rowley Road - Wattleup, Brookdale
	Mandogalup, Wandi, Anketell, The Spectacles	29.9	Anketell Road - Kwinana Beach, Oakford
	The Spectacles, Anketell, Casuarina, Bertram	32.3	Thomas Road - Kwinana, Byford	The Mandurah Line crosses under the left lanes of the freeway about 850 metres north of the interchange. Kwinana train station is located 850 metres to the west of the interchange
	Bertram, Casuarina, Wellard	35	Mortimer Road - Kwinana Town Centre (via Bertram Road), Wellard
Rockingham	Baldivis	39.7	Mundijong Road - Baldivis, Rockingham (via Kerosene Lane), Mundijong
		43.6	Safety Bay Road - Baldivis, Rockingham Folly Road
		48.8	Karnup Road - Port Kennedy, Serpentine
	Karnup	56.2	Paganoni Road - Karnup, Golden Bay Vine Road
Murray	Stake Hill
		61.2	Mandjoogoordap Drive - Mandurah Lymon Road - Stake Hill	Main link to Mandurah branches here
		65.0	Serpentine River Bridge Waangaamaap Bilya
		65.7	Lakes Road - Greenfields, North Dandalup
	Nambeelup	68.2	Nambeelup Brook Ngaa-bilyaap Bilya
	Ravenswood	73.3	Pinjarra Road - Pinjarra, Mandurah	Parclo interchange
		73.5	Windich Bridge Bilya Maadjit
			Forrest Highway - Waroona, Australind, Bunbury	Kwinana Freeway ends
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi      Concurrency terminus •      Closed/former •      Incomplete access •      Unopened

^a In some areas, the Kwinana Freeway forms the border between suburbs with some of the interchanges located where four different suburbs meet. The suburbs are listed clockwise so that the suburb on the western or north-western side of the freeway are listed first. ^b Distances are measured from central Perth.

See also

• Freeways in Australia
• Freeways in Western Australia
• List of major roads in Perth, Western Australia
• Mitchell Freeway

References

• Streetsmart (Various annual publications) - Perth Street Directory (Publisher - Western Australian Land Information Authority or "Landgate")
• 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. 

External links

• http://www.southperth.wa.gov.au/meetings/docs/2001/May/Council/attachment_9.4.3_.pdf
• (Main Roads Department, Western Australia)
• (Southern Gateway Alliance - Constructing the Freeway and the "New Perth Bunbury Highway")
• (New name for Mandurah Entrance Road)
• Skyview WA Maps
• Metropolitan Traffic Flows, Appendix A: Dates of Major Changes to the Road Network

Route 2: Currambine to Lake Clifton via Perth and Mandurah Mitchell Freeway Dual carriageway - 4 to 10 lanes Kwinana Freeway Dual carriageway - 4 to 10 lanes Forrest Highway Dual carriageway - 4 lanes