Kwinana Freeway - History

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). 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) due to 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 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.

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