Mitchell Freeway - History

History

The Mitchell Freeway began as a proposed highway included in the Metropolitan Region Scheme in the mid-1950s. The original plan took the route, then known as the Yanchep Highway, inland from what is now known as Karrinyup Road to the intersection of Wanneroo Road and Balcatta Road, but the first gazetted edition of the Metropolitan Region Scheme, from 1963, shows a controlled access highway along the current freeway alignment. The later plan only detailed the route up until a point east of Sorrento, at a proposed east-west controlled access highway on the modern day Hepburn Avenue alignment.

Detailed design on the first section of freeway, from the Narrows Bridge to Sutherland Street at the northern edge of the city, began in 1960, and took several years to be completed. The design included a complex interchange at the Narrows Bridge, to be built on reclaimed land that was mostly soft mud. Ground improvement works began in 1964, which included the installations of forty three thousand sand drains, and demolition of buildings in the freeway's path commenced in 1965. Construction started on 18 November 1966, and the project was completed with the opening of the Narrows interchange on 30 November 1973. This initial section functioned only as a distributor for Narrows Bridge traffic accessing the CBD or adjacent areas to the north-west. Whilst initially referred to as the "Western Switch Road", it was renamed after the former Western Australia State Premier and Governor Sir James Mitchell, following a proposal by the state government in November 1963.

Several stages were built through the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Constructed between 1974 and 1976, the first extension of the freeway was to Vincent Street, splitting the suburb of Leederville in two. Between 1976 and 1978, Stage 3 of the freeway was constructed, from Vincent Street to Hutton Street. Between 1983 and 1984, it was extended first to Karrinyup Road, and then to Erindale Road. The next extension to Hepburn Avenue opened on 6 August 1986. The first stage of the Reid Highway (then known as the North Perimeter Highway) was built at the same time. A further extension to Ocean Reef Road opened on 2 July 1988.

In 1991 and 1992, the median strip of the entire freeway was significantly widened to accommodate the Joondalup railway line, being built under the Northern Suburbs Transit System project. The line was to be located in the middle of the road reserve, between the freeway carriageways. At the time, the northbound and southbound carriageways, between Loftus Street and McDonald Street, were positioned next to each other, with space for future widening located on the eastern side of the road reserve. Initially, three new rail and road bridges were constructed at Vincent Street, Powis Street, and Scarborough Beach Road. Once the road bridges had been completed and surfacing works completed, the southbound carriage was relocated, creating the required space for the railway line construction. Additional lanes were constructed in the realigned section, funded from regular road funding sources, whilst the bridges and some associated works were included as part of the costs for the Northern Suburbs Transit System project. After a 7-year-hiatus, a 3 km extension to Hodges Drive was opened by the Premier Richard Court in December 1999, two months ahead of schedule. The project also included widening the section between Karrinyup Road and Hepburn Avenue to three lanes in each direction.

The latest extension was a 4 km stretch to Burns Beach Road, with a diamond interchange at Shenton Avenue and an overpass for Moore Drive. Local residents were opposed to aspects of the initial plans, such as the design of a section near a primary school and the clearing of native vegetation. The state government therefore established the Community Consultative Working Group and later the Construction Reference Group, composed of members of the local community. The input from these groups resulted in several changes to the design. Construction of the extension, initially planned for May 2006, began on 14 December 2006, managed by Main Roads in conjunction with Macmahon Contractors. By July 2008, 90% of the works had been completed and the new section was predicted to open in September 2008. However, the official opening was not until 2 November 2008, when the road was opened by Western Australia's Minister for Transport, Simon O'Brien, and the previous Minister for Planning and Infrastructure Alannah McTiernan. The opening was celebrated with a procession of vintage cars along the new freeway segment.