Welshpool Road is a major arterial road running through the metropolitan area 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. Although the road is now split in two, having had its western and eastern sections disconnected due to the extension of

Roe Highway Roe Highway is a limited-access highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-western suburbs. The northern terminus is at Reid Highway and Great Northern Highway in Midd ...

, it remains Welshpool's second most important road (after Orrong Road), and the highest quality access road for the

Darling Scarp The Darling Scarp (), also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to ...

. Welshpool Road East is part of State Route 8, while the entire road was previously allocated State Route 35.

Route description

Welshpool Road

Welshpool Road west of Roe Highway is long, and unlike Welshpool Road East, did not have a West

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

added after the road's disconnection. The road is typical of those major in the Welshpool Area; although of a reasonable quality, being a 4-lane single or dual carriageway it contains only a handful of traffic lights, is choked by traffic in peak hour, has industrial business dotting the road, and has many minor roads which have no form of control,

give way In road transport, a yield or give way sign indicates that merging drivers must prepare to stop if necessary to let a driver on another approach proceed. A driver who stops or slows down to let another vehicle through has yielded the right of ...

and

stop sign A stop sign is a traffic sign designed to notify drivers that they must come to a complete stop and make sure the intersection (road), intersection (or level crossing, railroad crossing) is safely clear of vehicles and pedestrians before contin ...

s excepted. Welshpool Road begins as an extension of a west-east section of

Albany Highway Albany Highway links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its oldest settlement, Albany, Western Australia, Albany, on the state's South coast of Western Australia, south coast. The highway travels through the southern Wheatbelt (Weste ...

(Albany Highway continues to the south of the intersection). Continuing through Welshpool it meets the

Leach Highway Leach Highway is a east-west arterial highway in the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, primarily linking Kewdale, Western Australia, Kewdale and Perth Airport with the city of Fremantle. It is allocated State Route 7 and is a dual ...

soon after. Leach Highway marks the most dangerous intersection for both Welshpool Road and Leach Highway; the intersection is also one of Perth's busiest. It then meets Kewdale Road, passing through outer Welshpool after this point. The final controlled intersection for the road is McDowell Street. McDowell Street extends north, meets Orrong Road, and then continues into neighbouring Kewdale. Although of importance for barely , McDowell Street distributes traffic onto Orrong Road, allowing motorists to continue their journey along Welshpool Road East. For those who continue along Welshpool Road, the road sharply turns south after , and continues as William Street.

Junctions

Welshpool Road East

Welshpool Road East (9.5 km long) had an East

added after the road's disconnection. At a similar quality to Welshpool Road, its 4-lane section is an entire dual carriageway; it changes to a 2 to 3 lane single carriageway after climbing most of the

, however. With only 4 traffic lights in total (two of those at Roe Highway's diamond interchange), traffic problems are relatively minor, the only congestion being towards Roe Highway westbound. Allocated State Route 8, Welshpool Road East starts as an extension of Orrong Road. Soon after meeting Roe Highway, it meets Hale Road. Hale Road serves as the main road for Forrestfield, eventually passing through a rural

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing C ...

and climbing the Darling Scarp. Welshpool Road then passes through Wattle Grove, a mostly rural foothill suburb; however, this section is suburban. It then meets Tonkin Highway; this marks both State Route 8 and Welshpool Road's final traffic light and departure from the

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

. After this point, the scenery transitions to semi-rural; however, the quality of the road remains high. After about , the road starts to climb the Darling Scarp, varying from 6- to 10-degree angle of slope. A short time after this, the median which was previously as wide as 4 lanes thins out dramatically, and becomes negligible. The road continues to climb quite steeply; similar to

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 (Western Australia), Wheatbelt and the Goldfields-Esperance, Goldfie ...

the climb is constant;

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 ...

's climb of the escarpment is undulating. Welshpool Road East then meets Lesmurdie Road, and finally changes to a 2-lane single carriageway. After this point, westbound traffic is given two overtaking lanes that last for about each. Finishing its climb in

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

, Welshpool Road terminates into Canning Road.

Junctions

History

Roe Highway's extension beyond Welshpool Road in 2002 represented the biggest change to Perth's transport infrastructure since the

Graham Farmer Freeway The Graham Farmer Freeway is a inner-city freeway in Perth, Western Australia. It links the Mitchell Freeway in West Perth to Great Eastern Highway and Orrong Road in Burswood, providing an east–west bypass of the Perth central business d ...

was opened in 2000. Welshpool Road, Orrong Road and William Street were the 3 major roads affected due to the extension. Before Roe Highway's extension in 2002, the highway's north and southbound lanes separated, leaving a gap between them once they met Welshpool Road. After this, they both formed one lane and came back together, continuing as William Street. Orrong Road would terminate into Welshpool Road in the form of a T-junction. Due to the extension of Roe Highway, major changes were made. Firstly, Welshpool Road was disconnected; William Street was disconnected from Roe Highway, and Orrong Road was extended to meet Roe Highway in the form of 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. ...

. Orrong Road now continues as Welshpool Road East. Welshpool Road West now continues as William Street. Until 2024, Welshpool Road crossed the

South Western Railway South Western Railway Limited, trading as South Western Railway (SWR), is the British state-owned train operating company that took over the services of the South Western Railway (2017–2025), operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR ...

via a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

. As part of the

Victoria Park-Canning Level Crossing Removal Project The Victoria Park-Canning Level Crossing Removal Project is a project by the Government of Western Australia to elevate part of the Armadale line, thereby removing six level crossings and rebuilding five stations to modern standards. The pr ...

, a bridge was built to carry the railway line over the road.Welshpool Area

Metronet Metronet may refer to: * Metronet (British infrastructure company), who maintained London Underground infrastructure between 2003 and 2008. *Metronet (Western Australia) Metronet (styled METRONET) is a multi-government agency in Western Austral ...

References

* UBD Street Directory - 46th & 49th editions

External links

{{Attached KML, display=inline,title Roads in Perth, Western Australia