Roe Highway is a limited-access highway and partial freeway in

Perth 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 ...

, Western Australia, linking Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-western suburbs. The northern terminus is at

Reid Highway Reid Highway is a east-west highway and partial freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking North Beach with Middle Swan. As part of State Route 3, it forms half of Perth's outer ring road along with Roe Highway, wh ...

and

Great Northern Highway Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...

in Middle Swan, and the southern terminus is with Murdoch Drive at the Kwinana Freeway interchange in

Bibra Lake Bibra may refer to: Organisations * British Industrial Biological Research Association, now known as BIBRA in the UK Places * Bibra, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, a village in the district Schmalkalden-Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany * Bibra, Saale-Holz ...

. Roe Highway, in addition to Reid Highway, form State Route 3, a partial ring road around the outer suburbs of the Perth metropolitan area. Roe Highway also forms part of National Highway 94 from

Great Eastern Highway Bypass Great Eastern Highway Bypass is a limited-access dual carriageway linking Great Eastern Highway and Roe Highway in Perth, Western Australia. Together with a section of Roe Highway, it bypasses the historical Guildford and Midland localities, t ...

Great Eastern Highway Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt and the Goldfields, it is the western portion of the main road link ...

, and National Highway 95 from Great Eastern Highway to

. Although planning for Roe Highway's route began in the 1950s, construction on the highway's first segment only began in 1981, which was opened in 1983, concurrent with the construction of

Tonkin Highway Tonkin Highway is an north–south highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth Airport and Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-eastern suburbs. As of April 2020, the northern terminus is at the intercha ...

and development of the Kewdale industrial area. The highway remains a key heavy vehicle route in the Perth metropolitan area. In the 1980s and 1990s, most of the highway's interchanges with other roads were constructed as at-grade intersections with traffic lights, as were Perth's other arterial highways also constructed during that time. From 2002 to 2006, the section of the highway from Tonkin Highway to Kwinana Freeway was constructed as a continuous

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

, with grade-separated interchanges and free traffic flow, and since 2012 several remaining at-grade intersections of the rest of the highway have been grade-separated. Six at-grade traffic-light controlled intersections remain on the highway today. Planning provisions have proposed for Roe Highway to be extended from its current south-western terminus in Bibra Lake towards Fremantle since the 1950s. These plans have been controversial amongst conservationist and community groups due to the highway's proposed route through the environmentally sensitive

Beeliar Wetlands The Beeliar Wetlands is a wetland located in the southwest portion of Western Australia. It is made up of two chains of lakes and wetlands that run parallel to the west coast of Australia. They are situated on the Swan Coastal Plain between t ...

. The Western Australian state government commenced construction on the first stage of an extension of Roe Highway from Kwinana Freeway to Stock Road (known as Roe Highway Stage 8) in December 2016; construction of the extension was suspended in March 2017 following a change of government in the 2017 state election. The new government has since reconfigured the extension to curve northwards to link with Murdoch Drive instead. Construction on this project commenced in 2018 and was completed in April 2020.

Route description

Roe Highway is part of State Route 3, Perth's partial outer ring road, though it also carries National Highways 94 and 95 for parts of the highway. A dual carriageway limited-access highway maintained by Main Roads Western Australia, most junctions along the road are grade-separated interchanges, though some are at-grade traffic-light controlled intersections; the section between Tonkin Highway and the Kwinana Freeway (a little more than half the highway's entire length) is a continuous freeway. The speed limit for the highway is mostly ; however, the section between Great Northern Highway and Morrison Road carries a , and it is near the eastern terminus. Otherwise, the speed limit near at-grade intersections is . A principal shared path (PSP) exists alongside most of Roe Highway, from Berkshire Road to Kwinana Freeway.

Middle Swan to Forrestfield

Roe Highway commences in Middle Swan within the

City of Swan The City of Swan is a local government area of Western Australia. It is in the eastern metropolitan region of Perth and includes the Swan Valley and 42 suburbs. It is centred approximately 20 km north-east of the Perth central business ...

local government area (LGA) at Great Northern Highway at a traffic light controlled intersection as an eastern continuation of Reid Highway. Upon the highway's commencement it is carrying both State Route 3 (continuing from Reid Highway) and National Highway 95 (continuing from Great Northern Highway to the north). The highway then curves to the south, reaching Toodyay Road later. From there the highway briefly borders the suburb of Stratton before entering Midvale, reaching another traffic light controlled intersection with Morrison Road later. Only another takes the highway to Great Eastern Highway at a modified diamond interchange with a northbound to eastbound loop ramp to cater for heavy vehicles. At this interchange, National Highway 95 terminates here, and simultaneously gains the National Highway 94 allocation, continuing from Great Eastern Highway to the east. Following the Great Eastern Highway interchange Roe Highway is entirely within the suburb of

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to: Placenames Australia * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales Canada ...

, getting to Clayton Street only further on. It is a half diamond interchange with only a northbound exit and southbound entry ramp. Not any further from that interchange, the highway crosses the Helena River, sending the highway into the suburb of Hazelmere, passing under Bushmead Road, and reaching the Great Eastern Highway Bypass another south of Clayton Street. At this intersection National Highway 95 continues west on the Bypass. After , Roe Highway enters the City of Kalamunda LGA, bordering the suburbs of

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

and

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is ...

and then reaches

Kalamunda Road Kalamunda Road is a minor arterial road linking the historic suburb of South Guildford with the Darling Scarp suburb of Kalamunda, in Perth, Western Australia. It serves as a major access road for Perth Airport, and provides the foothills su ...

at a dogbone interchange later. Another takes the highway to another half diamond interchange at Maida Vale Road, also with only northbound exit and southbound entrance ramps. later, Roe Highway reaches Berkshire Road at a diamond interchange with a "tennis ball" configuration, with traffic cutting through the roundabouts rather than circulating around them. At the same time the highway enters the suburb of Forrestfield. Another takes the highway to Tonkin Highway. This major junction was originally a diamond interchange favouring Tonkin Highway, but is now a partial freeway-to-freeway interchange, with the left turns from Roe Highway free-flowing. There are plans to upgrade this junction into being a fully free-flowing interchange in the future.

Forrestfield to Bibra Lake

Following the interchange at Tonkin Highway, Roe Highway now forms the boundaries of the City of Belmont and Kalamunda LGAs to the west and east, respectively, as well as their respective suburbs, Kewdale and Wattle Grove, before crossing freight railway lines and briefly entering the suburbs of East Cannington and Welshpool within the vicinity of the Orrong Road and Welshpool Road East interchange, within the

City of Gosnells The City of Gosnells is a local government area in the southeastern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, located northwest of Armadale and about southeast of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of , ...

LGA, further south from Tonkin Highway. Within this stretch the highway is four lanes southbound and three lanes northbound. Roe Highway is thereafter within the suburb of Beckenham, with the freight railway line travelling alongside the highway's eastern side. Roe Highway reaches Kenwick Link (a bypass of Albany Highway) further south. Midway through these interchanges, the highway passes under Brixton Street and the bypassed section of Albany Highway. A further southwest of the interchange takes the freeway to the

Canning River The Canning River (Djarlgarra in Nyungar) is a major tributary of the Swan River in the South West Land Division of Western Australia. It is home to much wildlife including dolphins, pelicans, swans and many other bird species. Source a ...

, which Roe Highway crosses over as the Djarlgarra Bridge, after which the highway is now bordering the suburbs of Langford and Thornlie. Roe Highway passes under Spencer Road before reaching Nicholson Road, west of the river. The highway, which is now within the City of Canning and bordering the residential suburb of Parkwood and industrial suburb of Canning Vale, reaches Willeri Drive further west, after which it is now bordering Willetton to the north, and then reaches South Street further southwest. Following this interchange Roe Highway is now within the

City of Cockburn The City of Cockburn ( ) is a local government area in the southern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about south of Fremantle and about south of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of and had a po ...

and bordering the suburbs of Leeming and Jandakot, reaching Karel Avenue further west. After , Roe Highway reaches a partial combination interchange (originally a trumpet interchange) at the junction of the Kwinana Freeway (this interchange lacks southbound-to-westbound and eastbound-to-northbound movements) in

; Roe Highway terminates at this interchange, continuing northwards as Murdoch Drive.

History

Roe Highway was first proposed in 1955 by

Gordon Stephenson Gordon Stephenson (6 June 1908 – 30 March 1997) was a United Kingdom, British-born town planner and architect. He is best known for his role in shaping the modern growth and development of Perth, Western Australia. Biography Gordon Stephens ...

as part of what was to become the Metropolitan Region Planning Scheme. The highway was intended to form the southern and eastern sections of a ring route around the Perth metropolitan area.New Roe Highway link to open (April 1998). Western Roads: official journal of Main Roads Western Australia, 21(1), p.4. Perth: Main Roads Western Australia. It is named in honour of

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in ...

, who arrived in Western Australia in 1829 and served as the first state

Surveyor General of Western Australia The Surveyor General of Western Australia is the person nominally responsible for government surveying in Western Australia. In the early history of Western Australia, the office of surveyor general was one of the most important public office ...

for 41 years.History and a highway (March 1989). Western Roads: official journal of the Main Roads Department, Western Australia, 14(1), p.5. Perth: Main Roads Department. Work began in 1981, with the first section between the Beechboro-Gosnells Highway and Bushmead Road opening in 1983. The next section, from Bushmead Road to

was opened in 1984. The third stage, linking the Great Eastern Highway and

opened on 14 December 1988, at the same time as the

opened. The state Minister for Transport, Bob Pearce was assisted in the opening ceremony by Jason and Rachael Roe, two of the sixth generation of the Roe family to live in Australia and descendants of John Septimus Roe. The new roads provided a limited access dual carriageway bypass of the historical Guildford and Midland districts that were much needed at the time. In 1994, the highway was extended further southwards from

to Welshpool Road. Following seven years in hiatus, work recommenced, and in 2001 a new southwestern extension known as stage 4 was completed from Welshpool Road to the purpose-built Kenwick Link (an

Albany Highway Albany Highway links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its oldest settlement, Albany, on the state's south coast. The highway travels through the southern Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions, and is designated State Route ...

bypass built in 1998)most of which replaced the overtaxed William Street in

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

. Work on the stage 5 was undertaken simultaneously with stage 4, bringing the highway to

Nicholson Road Nicholson Road is a major north-south road in the southeastern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, connecting Albany Highway in Cannington with the large residential areas of Thornlie and Canning Vale, before leaving the Perth urban area a ...

in 2002. Stage 6, a extension from Nicholson Road to South Street was completed in 2004, with stage 7 being announced shortly afterwards. Prior to 2006, the exit to the freeway from the present Roe Highway Intersection was Hope Road. When the , $75 million extension from South Street to Kwinana Freeway was completed in March 2006 (Roe Highway stage 7), this meant that Hope Road was severed to the connection of the freeway with the road east of Berrigan Drive being renamed to Karel Avenue. Hope Road is now a series of local streets with the east of the freeway accessing to the West Power Jandakot Distribution Centre. The of road built since 1994 between Tonkin Highway and Kwinana Freeway, is to a freeway standard. It may in the future be upgraded to a freeway classification. In June 2012, the new grade-separated interchange opened at the

intersection, allowing free-flowing traffic on Roe Highway over Great Eastern Highway. The design includes a northbound to eastbound loop ramp to cater for heavy vehicles, and three pedestrian underpasses.

Proposal to extend Roe to Fremantle

Roe Highway was first proposed in 1955 by

as part of what was to become the Metropolitan Region Planning Scheme. The highway was intended to form the southern and eastern sections of a ring route around the Perth metropolitan area. In the 1950s, Stephenson planned for Roe Highway to continue westwards towards Fremantle, through South Fremantle along Marine Terrace and then north to connect with Stirling Highway and the

Port of Fremantle Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and naval vis ...

. As part of the plan, in 1974 Stirling Highway was extended from its then terminus north of the Swan River southwards to

Canning Highway Canning Highway is an arterial road in Perth, Western Australia, linking the inner Perth suburb of Victoria Park in the north-east, to the port city of Fremantle in the south-west. The road is mostly a four-lane divided carriageway, with a g ...

. Over a period of approximately 20 years, Main Roads Western Australia procured land, and in 1985, Stirling Highway was extended southwards from Canning Highway to High Street (the western continuation of Leach Highway). The remaining strip of land south of

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

then became known as the Fremantle Eastern Bypass. At the southern end of the proposed Fremantle Eastern Bypass, an east–west road reservation was proclaimed, and became known as Roe Highway stage 8 (or Roe 8). With a change of

state governments A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, ...

in 2001, the planned Fremantle Eastern Bypass / Roe Highway stage 8 was cancelled, with a commitment by the government to sell the land reserved for the Fremantle Eastern Bypass. As part of the funding arrangement for Roe Highway stages 6 and 7, the federal government stipulated that the Roe Highway stage 8 reservation was to be retained. Following a change in

in September 2008, planning work has now commenced on an extension of Roe Highway from Kwinana Freeway to Stock Road. Parliamentary debate was continuing in 2012 as the state government continued its intention to implement the plan. Roe 8 221115-107

The plan was ultimately formalised as The Perth Freight Link in May 2014, a $1.6 billion project to improve the road freight link between Kewdale and

Fremantle Harbour Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and naval vi ...

. In addition to the extension of Roe Highway, upgrades were also planned for Stock Road, Leach Highway, and High Street to provide a grade-separated route, bypassing fourteen sets of traffic signals. The links plan includes mandatory

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

tracking of all vehicles over an as yet undisclosed size or weight with a charge per kilometre being applied for vehicles travelling in the area between Muchea and North Fremantle. The extension will take the highway from its current terminus at Kwinana Freeway approximately further west to Stock Road, near Forrest Road in Coolbellup. The proposed route is along or within the vicinity of an existing road reserve in the Perth Metropolitan Region Scheme. In September 2015 the group Save the Beeliar Wetlands took legal action against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), arguing that the EPA did not follow its own policies. Preliminary works began on the project during November 2015, which drew protests with many people being given move-on orders preventing them from being in the area. On 16 December 2015 the Supreme Court handed down its findings: that because the EPA did not follow its published policies as it was legally obliged to, the approval of Roe 8 and the subsequent approval given by the environment minister Albert Jacobs were invalid.

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

custodian Corina Abraham, on behalf of the local

Whadjuk Whadjuk, alternatively Witjari, are Noongar (Aboriginal Australian) people of the Western Australian region of the Perth bioregion of the Swan Coastal Plain. Name The ethnonym appears to derive from ''whad'', the Whadjuk word for "no". Countr ...

Noongar people filed writs against members of the

Department of Aboriginal Affairs The Department of Aboriginal Affairs was an Australian government department that existed between December 1972 and March 1990. History The Department had its origins in the Office of Aboriginal Affairs (OAA), which was established ...

cultural committee and the current WA Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Peter Collier in the WA Supreme Court on 30 March 2016. The writs allege that they did not receive procedural fairness as both Abraham and her now deceased father were part of the group consulted in the original group consulted in the report which the committee later overturned to enable the project's approval. Abraham's lawyer Greg McIntyre QC (who had also been

Eddie Mabo Edward Koiki Mabo (''né'' Sambo; 29 June 1936 – 21 January 1992) was an Indigenous Australian man from the Torres Strait Islands known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights in Australia, in particular the landmark decision o ...

's lawyer) also sought an injunction to prevent the minister making any decisions based on the new recommendation until the matter is heard by the court.

2017 State election and the Murdoch Drive Connection

After the 2017 state election, the incoming McGowan Government stated it intended to scrap the entire project.Labor vows to scrap Perth Freight-Link if it wins election
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' 4 January 2017WA Labor vows to axe Perth Freight Link
''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, '' The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuous ...

'' 4 January 2017 On 12 March, Main Roads and the contractors agreed to suspend work on the project. In early 2018 plans were revealed to extend Roe Highway to curve northwards to meet Murdoch Drive instead, with modifications made to the existing Kwinana Freeway interchange, converting it from a

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

to a modified

combination interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

though with no access from Kwinana Freeway south to Murdoch Drive west nor Murdoch Drive east to Kwinana Freeway north due to the nearby Farrington Road interchange providing the same required movements to enter/exit the freeway. A modified half diamond interchange between Murdoch Drive and Farrington Road/Bibra Drive was also constructed to provide an upgraded southern access to the Murdoch activity centre. The project was completed on 20 April 2020.

Gateway WA

Gateway WA was a $1 billion project that upgraded the road network around

Perth Airport Perth Airport is an international, domestic and general aviation airport serving Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. It is the fourth busiest airport in Australia measured by passenger movements and falls within the boundaries of ...

. It was, at the time, the largest project Main Roads Western Australia had ever undertaken, covering the upgrade of

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includ ...

, Leach, and Roe Highways, and the construction of four new interchanges. The project was jointly funded by state and federal governments, which provided $317.5 million and $686.4 million respectively. As part of the project, Roe Highway's interchange with Tonkin Highway was upgraded, noise walls were erected along Roe Highway in

, and a new interchange between Roe Highway and Berkshire Road was constructed. The project was completed in April 2016.

Karel Avenue Interchange Upgrade

Work commenced in July 2019 to widen Karel Avenue to four lanes between Farrington Road and Berrigan Drive, including duplication of the bridge crossing the Roe Highway. Despite the interchange itself only opening in 2006, the $15 million upgrade was required due to the development of the Jandakot City project to the south of the interchange along with the construction of the Thornlie-Cockburn Link. This is due for completion in mid-2021.

Kalamunda Road Interchange

The $86 million project to convert the intersection of Roe Highway and

to a

dogbone interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. Approaching the ...

started in September 2019 as part of the progressive removal of at-grade signalised intersections along Roe Highway. This is due for completion . A staged extension of the Principal Shared Path (PSP) is also being built between the existing Berkshire and future Kalamunda Road interchanges. The Berkshire-Maida Vale Road section was completed in September 2020, with the Maida Vale-Kalamunda section .

Future

Great Eastern Highway Bypass Interchange

Planning and development of an interchange between Roe Highway and the

is also underway as part of a wider upgrade of infrastructure in the Hazelmere industrial area. Once completed there will be just two sets of traffic lights intersections south of the

Interchanges and intersections

Notes

References

* Hepburn, J.A. & Stephenson, G. 1955, ''Plan for the metropolitan region, Perth and Fremantle, Western Australia, 1955: a report prepared for the Government of Western Australia'', Government Printing Office, Perth. *
Main Roads WAThe Roe7 ProjectSkyview WA – Department of Land Information, Western Australia
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