Reid Highway - History

History

Reid Highway was initially proposed in the late 1960s as the "North Perimeter Highway", and a small two-lane section was built in early 1986 between Erindale Road and the-then newly-extended Mitchell Freeway. In 1989 it was subsequently renamed "Reid Highway", in honour of former Western Australia Governor Gordon Reid.

The next section was built between Alexander Drive and Malaga Drive, and was opened on 6 September 1991. A segment linking Malaga Drive to Tonkin Highway opened later that year, on 11 November 1991, with further extensions west to Mirrabooka Avenue and east to Beechboro Road opening two months later, on 11 February 1992.

The highway was further extended with the section between Mirrabooka Avenue and Wanneroo Road, which opened on 17 November 1994. The highway was finally made continuous on 6 September 1996 with the opening of the Erindale Road–Wanneroo Road segment. A short time later, it was extended eastwards to West Swan Road. This section, which opened on 25 November 1996, provided a connection to Great Northern Highway and Roe Highway via Middle Swan Road, an existing local road.

In 2001, the highway was extended west from Mitchell Freeway to Marmion Avenue as a two-lane divided carriageway, which opened on 30 July. This extension was highly controversial as it passes through the environmentally sensitive Carine wetlands and the Lake Carine region, which includes a vital turtle habitat. Concerns about environmental damage prompted construction delays, and slight alterations to the route.

Criticism of the quality and capacity of the highway has also been an issue. Reid Highway in Westminster (between Wanneroo Road and Mirrabooka Avenue) has no street lighting and has attracted both antisocial behaviour and a number of accidents. The stretch between Beechboro Road and West Swan Road has been similarly criticised, and the area east of the Mitchell Freeway is prone to heavy congestion due to its limited capacity as a two-lane single carriageway.

A four-lane dual carriageway extension of Reid Highway from West Swan Road to Great Northern Highway and Roe Highway was opened on the 26th of February 2010, completing State Route 3 as a highway-grade ring road around Perth. The extension runs parallel to Middle Swan Road, which has been retained as a local access road. Middle Swan Road is of a relatively poor standard and capacity, and is viewed as a safety blackspot.

In 2011, the highway's traffic-light intersections at Alexander Drive and Mirrabooka Avenue were both upgraded to diamond interchanges, with bridges being constructed to carry highway traffic. Along with the similarly grade-separated Wanneroo Road interchange, this completed an 8 kilometre section of grade-separated, free traffic flow between the industrial estates of Balcatta and Malaga.