Wanneroo Road is a arterial highway 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 linking Joondanna and Yokine in the south with Wanneroo and

Yanchep Yanchep is a coastal town north of Perth, Western Australia, north of the Perth CBD. It is a part of the City of Wanneroo local government area. Originally a small crayfishing settlement, it was developed by entrepreneur Alan Bond in the 19 ...

in the north. As part of State Route 60, it begins from Charles Street in the inner city and becomes Indian Ocean Drive up to Dongara. Originally a narrow and often country road with a single lane in each direction it has been periodically widened and (particularly north of Wanneroo) straightened. Around the Carabooda area the road has been realigned. Short sections of the original, narrow road remain providing access to properties and businesses along the road. The road is also multiplexed with State Routes 81 and 83 for short lengths.

Route description

Wanneroo Road is part of State Route 60, as an alternative route to the

Mitchell Freeway The Mitchell Freeway is a controlled-access highway, freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth (suburb), central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of List of road routes in Western ...

(State Route 2) in Perth's northern suburbs. The road's southern terminus is London Street (State Route 61) in Joondanna, where it continues southwards as Charles Street, and its northern terminus is at Yanchep Beach Road in

, where it continues northwards as Indian Ocean Drive. Maintained by

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 ...

, the road is mostly a four-lane dual carriageway (except within Balcatta where it is six lanes), namely south of Dunstan Road as well as a short section in Carabooda between Trian Road and Bernard Road South, with the remainder in the outer rural northern suburbs a two-lane single carriageway. The speed limit is predominantly ; however, it is south of Royal Street in

Tuart Hill ''Eucalyptus gomphocephala'', known as tuart, is a species of tree and is one of the six forest giants of Southwest Australia. The trees usually grow to a height of and mostly have a single stem, but can have multiple stems under some condit ...

and within the Wanneroo Town Centre, north of Neerabup Road in Neerabup, and then north of Hester Avenue until its terminus in Yanchep. From its southern terminus to Beach Road, the road is within the

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 ...

local government area (LGA), after which it forms the boundary between the City of Joondalup and Wanneroo LGAs — this remains as such until Whitfords Avenue, where it is exclusively within the City of Wanneroo for the remainder of its length.

Joondanna to Wanneroo

Wanneroo Road starts as the continuation of Charles Street from the south at the traffic light Y-intersection at London Street. Commencing within the City of Stirling, it straddles along the suburbs of Joondanna, Tuart Hill, and Yokine, encountering traffic light controlled intersections of Cape and Royal Streets. The first intersection with a major road is with Morley Drive, later. North of Morley Drive, it travels through the suburbs of Balcatta, Westminster, and Nollamara, during which it encounters traffic light controlled intersections at Nollamara Avenue, Amelia Street, Main Street, Balcatta Road, and Victoria Road/Halley Road, eventually reaching a diamond interchange with

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 ...

following a run along the aforementioned suburbs. Reid Highway runs uninterrupted under Wanneroo Road, where both ramp junctions are controlled by traffic lights. Wanneroo Road travels along the suburbs of Hamersley to the west of the road and

Balga Balga (; ; ; ) was a medieval castle of the Teutonic Knights in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The castle ruins are located on the shore of the Vistula Lagoon, north of Mamonovo in the Pogranichny municipality of Bagrationovsky District, about so ...

to the east, reaching a traffic light controlled intersection with Beach Road later. Following this intersection the road forms the boundaries of both the City of Joondalup and Wanneroo LGAs. Wanneroo Road then travels through numerous residential suburbs, including Girrawheen and Madeley, for on approach to the industrial suburb of Wangara, intersecting with traffic lights at Warwick Road, Marangaroo Drive,

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 ...

(near the Kingsway City Shopping Centre), Kingsway, Gnangara Road and Whitfords Avenue. Because the T-junctions at Warwick Road and Marangaroo Drive are located within a close distance of each other, Wanneroo Road also carries State Route 81 between those two roads. A similar situation exists with Gnangara Road and Whitfords Avenue, except the short stretch between the two intersections carries State Route 83. After Whitfords Avenue, the road is exclusively within the City of Wanneroo, travelling along the industrial suburb of Wangara to the east and Woodvale to the west for around , where there is evidence of new residential developments. Within Wangara a traffic light controlled T-junction with Prindiville Drive is encountered, before reaching Ocean Reef Road, which is a grade-separated interchange with Wanneroo Road free-flowing over traffic light junctions at Ocean Reef Road. North of Ocean Reef Road, Wanneroo Road travels along the residential suburbs of Pearsall and Hocking for around before entering the Wanneroo town centre. Running within the town centre for it intersects with Conlan Avenue/Hastings Street (providing access to Wanneroo Central Shopping Centre) and Dundebar Road. The road then travels through the residential suburbs of Sinagra, Ashby, and

Tapping Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to stand ...

for , during which it intersects with Pinjar Road and Wallawa Street at traffic light T-junctions, and eventually reaches

Joondalup Drive Joondalup Drive is a major distributor road in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. The road travels through the City of Joondalup's central business district and extends for a few kilometres east through neighbouring residential ...

. Like Ocean Reef Road, this is a grade-separated interchange, but in a roundabout interchange configuration and Joondalup Drive free-flowing over the Wanneroo Road roundabout.

North of Wanneroo

After Joondalup Drive, development starts to become more sparse, and transitions from a suburban to rural landscape. Wanneroo Road travels through predominantly bushland in Neerabup (and along some residential development in Carramar) before reaching a traffic light controlled intersection with Flynn Drive and Neerabup Road later. The road continues to travel through Neerabup for before reaching a traffic light controlled T-junction with Hester Avenue. Within that stretch, alongside the road are portions of the original, narrow road that are now access roads for businesses and properties along the route. Now within the suburb of Nowergup, the road reduces to a two-lane single carriageway north of that intersection, which continues as such until south of the intersection with Romeo and Karoborup Roads where a four-lane single carriageway reappears. The intersection, on the boundary between Nowergup and Carabooda, is the northernmost signalised intersection on Wanneroo Road, with Romeo Road currently providing the northernmost link to both the

and fellow arterial road

Marmion Avenue Marmion Avenue is a arterial road in the northern coastal suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking Trigg, Western Australia, Trigg in the south with Yanchep in the north. It forms part of List of road routes in Perth, Western Australia#71, ...

. The dual carriage way continues as such for until Bernard Road South, reducing to a single carriageway once again. After about , Wanneroo Road terminates at a T-junction with Yanchep Beach Road, with the road (and State Route 60) continuing northwards as Indian Ocean Drive to coastal localities beyond the northern limit of the Perth metropolitan area (namely in the Wheatbelt region), such as Lancelin,

Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his no ...

, and Jurien Bay. Indian Ocean Drive would eventually reach Brand Highway as the main route northwards to

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

History

After the enactment of the Road Districts Act 1871, 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 ...

requested that the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

proclaim eight public thoroughfares through its territory, and on 4 June 1872, Road No.3, intended as a route from Perth to Champion Bay (now

) via Wanneroo, was published in the Government Gazette. However, the act of proclaiming the road was not contiguous with its development, and progress on surfacing the track occurred at a slow rate. A proposal to rename the road as "Yanchep Highway" was made in November 1940. The Perth Road Board (now

) was in favour of the proposal, subject to the Wanneroo Road Board (now

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 ...

) renaming their portion of Wanneroo Road, but the Wanneroo Road Board indicated that they would support a name change if it included Charles Street, in the Perth City Council area. No agreement was reached. The road represented the western terminus of the eastern section of Reid Highway between 1994 and 1996, when Reid Highway's missing link eventually made it continuous in 1996. In 2008, the intersection with Ocean Reef Road ( SR84) was upgraded. A second left turn lane was added for drivers entering Ocean Reef Road westbound from Wanneroo Road from the north, a second right turn lane to enter Ocean Reef Road westbound, and a second left and right turn lane at Ocean Reef Road westbound. During 2010, Wanneroo Road was duplicated from Wallawa Street to Joondalup Drive. In 2013, traffic lights were installed at Hester Avenue, which was later duplicated in 2017 as part of the Mitchell Freeway extension works. In December 2010, the state's Geographic Names Committee, on behalf of the Shire of Gingin, requested that the

rename the northern section of Wanneroo Road to Indian Ocean Drive. A motion was put forward at the 14 December 2010 council meeting to rename the section from Yanchep Beach Road north to the intersection of Gingin Brook Road, reasoning that terminating Wanneroo Road at Yanchep National Park would "be good for tourism". However, Mayor Jon Kelly considered the proposal a "futile and worthless exercise that was tantamount to heresy". Other councillors called it "offensive to the pioneers" of Wanneroo, and wished to retain the name Wanneroo in the area's only main road. An alternative motion stating that the council "does not agree" to renaming the road was passed instead. However, a subsequent renaming request was passed and the name Indian Ocean Drive was extended down to Yanchep Beach Road in 2011. During 2016 and 2019, significant portions of the road north of Joondalup Drive were duplicated: the section between Flynn Drive and north of Hall Road during 2016 and 2017 as part of the Mitchell Freeway extension works, and then the section between Joondalup Drive and the Flynn Drive/Neerabup Road intersection between 2018 and 2019. Work also started in 2018 to convert the existing traffic light intersections with Ocean Reef Road and

to grade-separated interchanges, with both works completed by 2020.

Junctions

Gallery

File:Wanneroo Road 092 S Westminster Balcatta.jpg, Looking south near Balcatta Road (9 km) File:Wanneroo Road 339 S Nowergup Wattle.jpg, Looking south near Hester Avenue (34 km) File:Wanneroo Road 352 N Nowergup One Tree Hill.jpg, Looking north near One Tree Hill (36 km) File:Wanneroo Road (S from Warwick Road).ogv, View southbound from Warwick Road

References

{{WA road routes , route=State Route 60 , shield={{AUshield, S, 60 , roads={{WA road routes/R, 60 , route2=State Route 81 , shield2={{AUshield, S, 81 , roads2={{WA road routes/R, 81 , route3=State Route 83 , shield3={{AUshield, S, 83 , roads3={{WA road routes/R, 83 Roads in Perth, Western Australia Articles containing video clips