Alexander Drive is a major north–south arterial road in the northern suburbs of

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Western Australia, connecting Perth's central business district (CBD) with

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman. Gaining univers ...

's Mount Lawley campus and the Malaga industrial area, as well as newer development suburbs to Perth's north. It is used by Transperth bus routes, including the 360, 361 and 362. Alexander Drive was named after Mr S.B. Alexander, a former Wanneroo Road Board member. Alexander Drive runs through the following local government areas City of Wanneroo, City of Swan, City of Bayswater and City of Stirling. It is known as Road No. 7354 in plans and maps.

Route description

Fitzgerald Street

State Route 56 starts in Northbridge, adjacent to Perth's CBD, as Fitzgerald Street, travelling northwards through West Perth and North Perth before becoming Alexander Drive at the intersection of Walcott Street.

Alexander Drive

Alexander Drive officially commences at the traffic light intersection of Walcott Street in Menora in the City of Stirling, with Alexander Drive travelling entirely through the suburb for before reaching Bradford Street. It briefly borders Mount Lawley and the suburb's

campus for before reaching Central Avenue, and changing borders to the east with

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. The border to the west changes to Yokine only later. About later the road is within the suburb of Dianella, with the Woodrow Avenue intersection not any further down. From Woodrow Avenue, Alexander Drive intersects Grand Promenade later, and then Morley Drive at a

hamburger roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...

down the road. This roundabout also features left-in/left-out junctions with the northwestern and southeastern sections of a residential distributor road, The Strand. The road travels through Dianella for before reaching Reid Highway at a

diamond 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 ...

. Between there and Widgee Road/Hellenic Drive, Alexander Drive briefly borders Noranda and the City of Bayswater to the east. After the Reid Highway interchange Alexander Drive now forms the border of the City of Stirling and Mirrabooka to the west, and the City of Swan and Malaga to the east. It reaches Beach Road , after which the border to the west changes to the City of Wanneroo and Koondoola. north of there, the road intersects with Illawarra Crescent South and the border to the east becomes Ballajura. It then reaches

Marangaroo Drive Marangaroo Drive is an arterial east-west road located in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. This road was originally part of Warwick Road, but in the late 1970s, Warwick Road was realigned, so the section of Warwick Road that was ...

later, after which the border to the west changes to Alexander Heights. It intersects with Illawarra Crescent North , and then Hepburn Avenue . After Hepburn Avenue, the road now borders Landsdale to the west and Cullacabardee to the east. To the west is mostly residential areas and some bushland and farming area soon to be converted into residential development, while to the east is exclusively bushland and rural area. Alexander Drive travels along these suburbs for before reaching Gnangara Road. This intersection marks the northern terminus of State Route 56, but not Alexander Drive, which ends at a cul-de-sac north of the intersection.

History

In May 1932, the Perth Road Board (now City of Stirling) decided to rename Fitzgerald Street, north of Walcott Street, to Alexander Drive after Mr S.B. Alexander, who was a member of the Wanneroo Road Board (now City of Wanneroo). The name change was official made by the state government's Department of Lands and Surveys in September 1932. In 1939, improvement works were proposed for Alexander Drive and other roads in the area. These works included concrete kerbing, surfacing with a two coat bitumen seal, and widening from to . The north-south portion from

to Widgee Road was historically called Uganda Road and was barely more than a track, but was renamed when the dual carriageway was built in the late 1970s. The name change was made official in March 1979. The road was duplicated from Beach Road to the location of what is now the present-day Hepburn Avenue during the early 1990s, also during the time Reid Highway linked Alexander Drive to Malaga Drive; this was subsequently extended west from there. In 2006, the original single carriageway northbound from Hepburn Ave was upgraded to a dual carriageway to Gnangara Road, where State Route 56 ends. Traffic lights were installed at the intersection with Gnangara Road in 2007. In 2011, the original traffic light intersection with Reid Highway was upgraded to a

. Reid Highway is now uninterrupted over traffic light junctions at Alexander Drive. The MAX light rail system, which would run along Alexander Drive and Fitzgerald Street, was announced in 2012. The plans were modified to

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

in 2015, before being cancelled in 2016.

Major intersections

* Walcott Street (State Route 75) – North Perth and Menora * Central Avenue, Mount Lawley – to

* Grand Promenade (State Route 55) – Dianella * Morley Drive (State Route 76) – Dianella * Reid Highway (State Route 3) - Mirrabooka, Noranda and Malaga * Beach Road - Mirrabooka, Ballajura and Malaga *

(State Route 81) – Ballajura and Alexander Heights * Hepburn Avenue – Ballajura, Alexander Heights and Landsdale * Gnangara Road (State Route 84) – Wangara and Gnangara, to Ellenbrook

References