Kwinana Freeway
Vorlage:Infobox Australian Road
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 Vorlage:Convert. It has a speed limit of 100 km/h, except in central Perth (80 km/h) and south of Lakes Road (110 km/h). Like all Western Australian freeways, the minimum allowed speed, where safe, is always 20 km/h 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 further south past Leach Highway to South Street. This included construction of the Mount Henry Bridge, which is Western Australia's longest at 660 metres.
The third stage, opened in 1991, extended the freeway another 9 km 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 5 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 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 Friday, 13 May 2005 (Friday the 13th), 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 2 hours to travel between the Mill Point Rd exit in South Perth to Canning Hwy in Como along the parallel Labouchere Rd - a road with only one lane in each direction.
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 kilometres 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 kilometre 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
At the Manning Road interchange there are plans for a southbound on-ramp, but the project is not currently funded, and made more difficult by two blocks of flats that would require demolition.
Exits and interchanges
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.
See also
- Freeways in Australia
- Freeways in Western Australia
- List of major roads in Perth, Western Australia
- Mitchell Freeway
References
- Skyview WA Maps
- Metropolitan Traffic Flows, Appendix A: Dates of Major Changes to the Road Network
- MSN Maps & Directions
- Perth Metropolitan Street Directory - 1974 Edition
- Perth Streetsmart Street Directory - 2003 Edition
- Streetsmart 2008 - Perth Street Directory (Publisher - Western Australian Land Information Authority or "Landgate")
- Leigh Edmonds: The vital link: a history of Main Roads Western Australia 1926-1996. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia 1997, ISBN 1-875560-87-4.
- 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)
Vorlage:Road infrastructure in Perth Vorlage:Road infrastructure in Western Australia
Vorlage:Australian road routes table