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

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

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

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public research university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Parliaments of the Australian states and territories, Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is, , t ...

Mount Lawley Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, Co ...

campus and the Malaga industrial area, as well as newer development suburbs to Perth's north. It is used by

Transperth Transperth is the public transport system for Perth and surrounding areas in Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation, and consists of train, bus and ferry services. Bus operat ...

bus routes, including the 360, 361 and 362. Alexander Drive was named after Mr S.B. Alexander, a former

Wanneroo Road Wanneroo Road is a arterial highway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia linking Joondanna and Yokine in the south with Wanneroo and Yanchep in the north. As part of State Route 60, it begins from Charles Street in the inner ...

Board member. Alexander Drive runs through the following local government areas

City of Wanneroo The City of Wanneroo is a local government area with city status in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It is centred approximately north of Perth's central business district and forms part of the northern boundary of the Perth ...

City of Swan The City of Swan is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area of Western Australia, in the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, eastern metropolitan region of Perth. It is named after the Swan River (Western Austral ...

City of Bayswater The City of Bayswater is a local government area in the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about northeast of Perth's central business district. The city covers an area of and had a population of 69,283 as at the 2021 Census. The Cit ...

and

City of Stirling The City of Stirling is a local government area in the northern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about north of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of and has a population of over 223,000, making ...

. 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 Walcott Street is an important east–west road in the inner northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking four of Perth's major northern road corridors ( Charles Street, Alexander Drive, Beaufort Street and Guildford Road Guildfor ...

Alexander Drive

Alexander Drive officially commences at the traffic light intersection of

Menora Menora may refer to: *Menora (dance), a Siamese folk dance *Menora (planthopper), ''Menora'' (planthopper), a flatid planthopper in family Flatidae *Menora, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth *Kfar HaOranim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank ...

in the

, with Alexander Drive travelling entirely through the suburb for before reaching Bradford Street. It briefly borders

and the suburb's

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

Inglewood Inglewood may refer to: Places Australia *Inglewood, Queensland * Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area *Inglewood, South Australia *Inglewood, Victoria *Inglewood, Western Australia Canada * Inglewood, Ontario *Inglewoo ...

. The border to the west changes to Yokine only later. About later the road is within the suburb of

Dianella Dianella may refer to: * ''Dianella'' (beetle), a species and genus of beetle in the family Carabidae now known as ''Diamella'' * ''Dianella'' (gastropod), a genus of freshwater snails in the family Hydrobiidae * ''Dianella'' (plant), a genus of ...

, with the Woodrow Avenue intersection not any further down. From Woodrow Avenue, Alexander Drive intersects

Grand Promenade The Grand Promenade () is a high-rise residential development located at 38 Tai Hong Street, Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is developed by Henderson Land Development and its subsidiary, The Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Co Ltd. in ...

later, and then Morley Drive at a

hamburger roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types 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 junct ...

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

for before reaching

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, w ...

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 separation, grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. ...

. Between there and Widgee Road/Hellenic Drive, Alexander Drive briefly borders Noranda and the

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

and Malaga to the east. It reaches Beach Road , after which the border to the west changes to the

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 wa ...

later, after which the border to the west changes to Alexander Heights. It intersects with Illawarra Crescent North , and then

Hepburn Avenue Hepburn Avenue is an arterial east–west road in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. The road links Sorrento in the west with Malaga and Whiteman in the east. It also connects the residential developments that span its length w ...

. 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 The City of Stirling is a local government area in the northern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about north of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of and has a population of over 223,000, making ...

(now

) decided to rename Fitzgerald Street, north of

, to Alexander Drive after Mr S.B. Alexander, who was a member of the Wanneroo Road Board (now

). 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

during the early 1990s, also during the time

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

was upgraded to a

. Reid Highway is now uninterrupted over traffic light junctions at Alexander Drive. The

MAX light rail The Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) is a light rail system serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Owned and operated by TriMet, it consists of five lines connecting the Neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon, six sectio ...

system, which would run along Alexander Drive and Fitzgerald Street, was announced in 2012. The plans were modified to bus rapid transit in 2015, before being cancelled in 2016.

Major intersections

All intersections listed below are signalised unless otherwise indicated. Note that the length includes Fitzgerald Street for continuity.

References