Main Roads Western Australia Main Roads Western Australia (formerly the Main Roads Department) is a statutory authority of the Government of Western Australia that is responsible for implementing the state's policies on road access and main roads. It operates under the ''M ...

controls the major roads in the state's

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

region. There are two main highways in the region:

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 ...

, which travels north through the region to

Port Hedland A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

and then north-west along the coast, as well as

North West Coastal Highway North West Coastal Highway is a generally north–south Western Australian highway which links the coastal city of Geraldton with the town of Port Hedland. The road, constructed as a sealed two-lane single carriageway, travels through remote a ...

, which heads south-west from Port Hedland. A series of main roads connects towns to the highways, and local roads provide additional links. The majority of these roads service the western half of the region, with few located in the various deserts east of the

Oakover River The Oakover River is a river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The headwaters of the river rise north of the Wadara Range and west of the Saltbush range near Junction Well then flows in a northerly direction. The river continues nort ...

. Roads are often named after the towns or areas they connect. The region's main roads are important for multiple aspects of the Pilbara's economy. These activities include mining (despite most products being transported by rail), agriculture and pastoral leases, and tourism, especially to the national parks at Karijini, Millstream-Chichester, and Rudall River.

Bingarn Road

Bingarn Road is the main access road connecting Tom Price to the wider Pilbara region since 2020. It commences at the intersection of Manuwarra Red Dog Highway and Paraburdoo–Tom Price Road and terminates at the intersection of Willow and Central Roads in central Tom Price. It was originally known as Mine Road prior to the naming of the Manuwarra Red Dog Highway replacing the original Bingarn Road alignment. The original Bingarn Road was a major north–south road in the Pilbara connecting Tom Price north to Nanutarra Munjina Road at Mount Sheila.

Burrup Road

Burrup Road, also known as Burrup Peninsula Road, is a main road on the

Burrup Peninsula The Burrup Peninsula, previously known as Dampier Island, is a former island of the Dampier Archipelago that is now connected to the mainland via a causeway. The peninsula and islands together are also known as Murujuga. The peninsula is locate ...

. From Dampier Road near Dampier, it heads north-east up the peninsula to Woodside's onshore

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

processing plant.

Dampier Road

Dampier Road, also known as Dampier Highway, is a major road in the Pilbara. From De Witt Road in Karratha, it travels west along the southern edge of town, and continues west to Gap Ridge. It then turns north-westerly, running to Dampier on the

. The road was completed in the late 1960s as a major link between Karratha and Dampier. Duplication between Balmoral Road West and Burrup Peninsula Road, turning the road into a dual carriageway, was completed on 28 February 2013.

Great Northern Highway

Great Northern Highway is a main highway through the Pilbara region, and part of the Perth to Darwin national highway. From the southern edge of the region at

Newman Newman is a surname of Germanic Anglo-Saxon origins. Newman is the modern English form of the name used in Great Britain and among people of British ancestry around the world (as is 'Numan'), while Neumann (with variant spellings) is used in Ger ...

, the highway travels north-west towards

Karijini National Park Karijini National Park is an List of national parks of Australia, Australian national park centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Capricor ...

, and then north to

, where it meets the northern end of

. Great Northern Highway continues north-eastwards near the coast, passing into the

Kimberley region The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts in t ...

at Pardoo.

De Witt Road

De Witt Road (formerly Karratha Rd) is a main north–south road in the Pilbara region, linking Karratha to the

. It travels from the highway to the town centre along the eastern edge of Stove Hill, terminating at Dampier Road.

Karijini Drive

Karijini Drive, also known as Karijini Road, is a major east–west road through the

. It connects Great Northern Highway, on the eastern side of the park, to Mount Sheila, near Tom Price, west of the park.

Madigan Road

Madigan Road is a major north–south road in the Pilbara region. It runs north from the Karratha Roadhouse on North West Coastal Highway, linking traffic to Dampier and Karratha via Dampier Road.

Manuwarra Red Dog Highway

Manuwarra Red Dog Highway is a major north-west to south-east road in the Pilbara region currently being constructed between Karratha and Tom Price. Originally known as Karratha-Tom Price Road, it acquired its new name in September 2020 after community consultation. Manuwarra means "heaps" in the

Yindjibarndi language Yinjibarndi is a Pama–Nyungan language spoken by the Yindjibarndi people of the Pilbara region in north-western Australia. Yinjibarndi is mutually intelligible with Kurrama, but the two are considered distinct languages by their speakers. ...

and is the indigenous name for the Red Dog Gorge in the

Millstream Chichester National Park Millstream Chichester National Park is a national park in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, located north of the state capital, Perth. The park is made up of the old Millstream Station, which is on the Millstream Creek, just before it j ...

. Both the gorge and the highway acquired its English name from the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

ous Red Dog, a famous

Kelpie A kelpie, or water kelpie (Scottish Gaelic: '' each-uisge''), is a mythical shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. Legends of these shape-shifting water-horses, under various names, spread across the British Isles, appea ...

/ Cattle Dog and Pilbara mascot from the 1970s. The road is constructed from renamed sections of Warlu Road, Roebourne-Wittenoom Road and Bingarn Road along with a portion of the service road originally constructed to service the

Hamersley & Robe River railway The Hamersley & Robe River railway, majority-owned by Rio Tinto, and operated by its subsidiary Pilbara Iron, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for the purpose of carrying iron ore. The network is larger than ...

Marble Bar Road

Marble Bar Road is a main north–south road in the Pilbara region. From

, it heads north via Nullagine and

Marble Bar Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is typically not foliat ...

to rejoin Great Northern Highway at

Strelley Strelley is a village and former civil parish in the Borough of Broxtowe and City of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is to the west of Nottingham. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 653, and 496 at the ...

, east of

. Although it provides an alternative route to Great Northern Highway, most of the Newman to Marble Bar section is unsealed. The

Northern Australia Roads Program Northern Australia Roads Program is a suite of projects designed to deliver upgrades to high priority roads in northern Australia. In 2016 the Australian Government announced 19 projects to be funded under this program, and in 2020 another was add ...

announced in 2016 included the following project for the Marble Bar Road.

Coongan Gorge

The project for realignment and reconstruction works was completed in mid 2019 at a total cost of $34.5 million.

Nanutarra Munjina Road

Nanutarra Munjina Road is a major east–west road in the Pilbara region. From

at the Nanutarra Roadhouse, it travels east-south-east towards Paraburdoo–Tom Price Road. The sealed road turns here towards Paraburdoo, but Nanutarra Munjina Road continues as an unsealed road for most of its remaining length. It curves to the north-east, heading around Tom Price and the

. Near the

Fortescue River The Fortescue River is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is the third longest river in the state. Course The river rises near Deadman Hill in the Ophthalmia Range about 30 km south of Newman, Western Austr ...

, the road again travels east-south-easterly to

at the Auski Roadhouse,

Karijini Karijini National Park is an Australian national park centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Capricorn, from the state's capital city, P ...

North West Coastal Highway

North West Coastal Highway is a highway that follows the southern half of the Pilbara coastline. From the Gascyone region at Burkett Road, a turnoff for Exmouth, the highway enters the Pilbara region at Yannarie. It heads north-easterly, gradually moving closer to the coast until it reaches the access roads to Dampier and Karratha, Madigan Road and Karratha Road. From here the highway moves runs to Roebourne and then over to

Whim Creek Whim may refer to: * Whim, U.S. Virgin Islands, a settlement * Whim (mining), a capstan or drum with a vertical axle used in mining * Whim (carriage), a type of carriage * ''Whim'', a reissue of ''Adventures of Wim'', a book by George Cockroft as ...

, where it curves back to the north east to meet Great Northern Highway at Mundabullangana, south of

Onslow Road

Onslow Road is a major road in the Pilbara region. From

Cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick, or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking * Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance * White cane, a mobility or safety device used by blind or visually i ...

, north of the Nanutarra Roadhouse, it heads north-west to the town of Onslow on the coast.

Paraburdoo–Tom Price Road

Paraburdoo–Tom Price Road, also known as Paraburdoo Tom Price Road or Paraburdoo Road (west of Paraburdoo) and Tom Price Road (east of Paraburdoo), is a major road in the Pilbara region. From Nanutarra Munjina Road in

Rocklea Rocklea is a southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Rocklea had a population of 1,672 people. Low-lying parts of the suburb are flood prone. Geography Rocklea is located 9 kilometres south of the city. The ...

, the road heads south-east to Paraburdoo. It then curves round to the north, meeting Karijini Road, before heading a short distance north-west to Tom Price, where Manuwarra Red Dog Highway completes the loop back to Nanutarra Munjina Road. Paraburdoo–Tom Price Road is part of the sealed road link between

and

in the southern half of the Pilbara.

Point Samson–Roebourne Road

Point Samson–Roebourne Road, also known as Point Samson Roebourne Road, is a major north–south road in the Pilbara region. It links

Point Samson A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

on the coast via Wickham to

at Roebourne.

Ripon Hills Road

Ripon Hills Road is a major east–west road in

. It travels from Marble Bar Road near the Marble Bar townsite to the Telfer Mine Road turnoff, near the

, which provides access to Telfer. After the turnoff, Ripon Hills Road continues as Woodie Woodie Road to the Nifty and Woodie Woodie mine sites. Ripon Hills Road was opened in November 1999 to replace the unsealed Woodie Woodie Road between Marble Bar townsite and the Telfer Mine Road turnoff as the main road through the region. At the time Ripon Hills Road was opened, Woodie Woodie Road carried over 500 Thousand tonnes of freight.

Wilson Street

Wilson Street is a major road in

, in the Pilbara region. It connects the coastal townsite to

References

{{Road infrastructure in Western Australia .