Connolly Drive is an arterial road in the outer northern suburbs of

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

. The road takes its name from the Perth suburb of

Connolly Connolly may refer to: People * Connolly (surname) Places * Connolly, Western Australia, a suburb in Perth, Western Australia * Connolly, County Clare, Ireland * Connolly Park in Collooney, County Sligo, Ireland * Dublin Connolly railway station ...

, which lies just beyond the road's terminus.

Route description

Connolly Drive starts at

Shenton Avenue Shenton Avenue is an east-west distributor road in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Joondalup. The road primarily links Joondalup's coastal suburbs with the Joondalup central business district, which ...

in Currambine, west of

Joondalup Joondalup () is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, approximately north of Perth's central business district. It contains the central business district of the regional City of Joondalup and acts as the primary urban centre of Perth's outer ...

's central business district, and ends after a run at Benenden Avenue in the outer northern suburb of Butler. Connolly Drive runs parallel with fellow arterial road Marmion Avenue to the west and

Mitchell Freeway The Mitchell Freeway is a freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of State Route 2, which continues south as Kwinana Freeway and Forrest ...

to the east, where, currently, the traffic flow eases past Hester Avenue, which is currently the latter's terminus. The road is a four-lane dual carriageway for its entire length. The speed limit is mostly , though it decreases to after Lukin Drive as well. The road runs within both the

City of Joondalup The City of Joondalup is a local government area in Perth, Western Australia. Its central business district is located in the suburb Joondalup, and it includes the town centres of Hillarys and Warwick. History Prior to the 1970s, the region n ...

and

Wanneroo Wanneroo is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Wanneroo. Geography As it is on the Swan Coastal Plain, the Wanneroo wetlands stretch parallel to the coastline and to the north and south of the suburb. Education ...

local government areas.

City of Joondalup

Connolly Drive starts at a traffic light controlled T-junction at Shenton Avenue in Currambine, running through the suburb of Currambine for before encountering Burns Beach Road at a roundabout; midway it encounters Moore Drive at a roundabout. Both Connolly and Moore Drives divide Currambine into quarters. From Burns Beach Road, Connolly Drive travels through

Kinross Kinross (, gd, Ceann Rois) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the historic county of Kinross-shire. History Kinross's origins are conn ...

for about , intersecting local roads such as Kinross Drive, Selkirk Drive, Geoff Russell Avenue and Macnaughton Crescent. After Macnaughton Crescent, Connolly Drive heads over into the City of Wanneroo, and the uninhabited locality of Tamala Park.

City of Wanneroo

Now within the City of Wanneroo, Connolly Drive travels through Tamala Park for about before entering the suburb of Clarkson and encountering Neerabup Road at a roundabout. The road proceeds to travel through the suburb for about , intersecting through several local roads, before encountering Hester Avenue at a roundabout. Hester Avenue is currently the northern terminus of the Mitchell Freeway. From there the road forms the boundary of Merriwa to the west and Ridgewood to the east for before encountering Lukin Drive at a traffic light controlled intersection. Connolly Drive then travels through the suburb of Butler for about , after which it terminates at a roundabout with Benenden Avenue, where it continues northwards at Exmouth Drive, which provides road access to the Butler railway station.

History

Connolly Drive was first built during the mid-1990s to service the then-new outer northern suburbs of Perth, with three discontinuous sections: two in the City of Joondalup (Currambine and Kinross) with the other in the City of Wanneroo (Merriwa and Ridgewood). The two sections within the City of Joondalup became continuous (running from Shenton Avenue to Selkirk Drive, then to Macnaughton Crescent) by 2001. In 2007, the missing link through Tamala Park (MacNaughton Crescent to Neerabup Road) as a dual carriageway made the entire road continuous, and the road was extended north of Lukin Drive, to service the growing suburb of Butler. During 2010 and 2011, all single carriageway sections south of Tamala Park were duplicated in response to the growing traffic demand in the area, with several intersections being upgraded during that time as well. More recently, the section between Neerabup Road and Lukin Drive has been duplicated and widened, in response to the extension of the Mitchell Freeway to Hester Avenue, during 2016. The remaining section of two-lane road, between Lukin Drive and Butler Boulevard, was widened to two lanes in each direction in 2020.

Intersections

The most significant intersections are with Shenton Avenue, Burns Beach Road and Hester Avenue.UBD 2007 Perth and surrounds Street Directory 2007 - 49th Edition. Below is a list of all major junctions of the road. *

, Connolly–Currambine boundary. Southern terminus at traffic light controlled T-junction. * Moore Drive, Currambine. Roundabout *

Burns Beach Road Burns Beach Road is an arterial east-west road in Perth, Western Australia, linking the suburbs of Burns Beach and Iluka to the Mitchell Freeway and Joondalup. It forms the entirety of State Route 87 and was the northern terminus of Mitchell ...

, Currambine–Kinross boundary. Roundabout. * Selkirk Drive, Kinross. Traffic light controlled T-junction. * Neerabup Road, Clarkson. Roundabout. * Hester Avenue, Clarkson–Merriwa–Ridgewood tripoint. Roundabout. * Lukin Drive, Merriwa--–Ridgewood–Butler tripoint. Traffic light controlled intersection. * Benenden Avenue, Butler. Northern terminus at roundabout; continues north as Exmouth Drive.

Gallery

Image:CONNOLLYDR_20070624A.JPG, Connolly Drive Kinross - being extended into Tamala Park and on up to Clarkson (June 2007). Image:CONNOLLYDR_20070624B.JPG, Sign showing widening of Connolly Drive up to McNaughton Crescent - Kinross (June 2007). Image:CONNOLLYDR_20070624C.JPG, Connolly Drive Kinross - being extended "Aerial burn planned" sign (June 2007). Image:CONNOLLYDR_20070624D.JPG, Connolly Drive Kinross - looking south to the widening works (June 2007). Image:ConnollyDriveMissingLink.jpg, Connolly Drive's missing link between Kinross and Clarkson which opened August 2007. File:Connolly Drive (N from Shenton Ave).ogv, View north from Shenton Avenue File:Connolly Drive (S from Ascot Way).ogv, View south to Shenton Avenue

References

{{coord, -31.6895873, 115.7283865, display=title, format=dms Roads in Perth, Western Australia Articles containing video clips