West Coast Highway, Perth

West Coast Highway is an arterial coastal highway located in the western and inner northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It is part of State Route 71, and also Tourist Drive 204 in various coastal parts.[1]

West Coast Highway

View northbound approaching Scarborough
General information
TypeHighway
Length13 km (8.1 mi)
Opened1960s
Route number(s) State Route 71 (all sections)
Tourist routes Tourist Drive 204 (Swanbourne to Oceanic Drive, City Beach and Challenger Parade, City Beach to Trigg)
Major junctions
South end Curtin Avenue (State Route 71), Swanbourne
 
North end Marmion Avenue (State Route 71), Trigg
Location(s)
Major suburbsCity Beach, Scarborough
Highway system

The highway commences from the end of Curtin Avenue at Swanbourne and heads north, via the SAS Campbell Barracks and rifle range, to City Beach, Scarborough and Trigg, terminating at the Karrinyup Road intersection, where it becomes Marmion Avenue. It links the northern coastal suburbs of Perth with the city of Fremantle. The speed limit for the majority of the highway is 70 km/h with two small 60 and 80 km/h sections at the Scarborough end. The highway is a dual carriageway for most of its length.

History

Approximate road distances (in kilometres) of coastal suburbs from Swanbourne onwards.

The highway began life as a minor coastal road (called Coast Road) between Swanbourne and North Beach in the 1940s. Prior to this time, the only access to settlements such as North Beach and Mullaloo had been by gravel road from Wanneroo Road. In the late 1960s, it was significantly upgraded and extended to Mullaloo Beach.

In the mid 1970s, the section through City Beach was redesigned, seeing the former Challenger Drive (inland) and West Coast Highway (coastal) trading names and the new highway being dualled as far north as Scarborough. The southernmost section running through Swanbourne was renamed Rochdale Road. In 1984, the highway was extended north to Ocean Reef Road.

By this stage, Marmion Avenue had supplanted the highway as the major road servicing the new northern suburbs, and suburban Swanbourne was struggling to cope with the through-traffic. In 1985-86, immediately preceding the designation of the State Route system, the highway immediately north of Scarborough was diverted inland along its present route to join Marmion Avenue at Karrinyup Road, and the highway south of City Beach was rerouted into Servetus Street, Swanbourne.

The northern two-thirds of the highway was divided up and renamed:

  • West Coast Drive from Trigg to Hepburn Avenue and Hillarys Boat Harbour;
  • Whitfords Avenue to Whitfords Avenue (east-west);
  • Northshore Drive to Mullaloo Drive; and
  • Oceanside Promenade to Ocean Reef Road.

Apart from the section in Scarborough, all of these sections were continuous.

By 2000, Servetus Street had become as much of a bottleneck as Rochdale Road had prior to 1985. A new extension to West Coast Highway, cut into the ground to reduce noise for local residents, was completed immediately next to Servetus Street, which was reduced to a local road. Curtin Avenue (leading to Fremantle) was also upgraded.

Major intersections

All intersections below are controlled by traffic signals unless otherwise mentioned.

LGALocationkmmiDestinationsNotes
Cottesloe-Nedlands boundaryCottesloe-Swanbourne boundary00.0 Curtin Avenue (State Route 71) south   Mosman Park, North Fremantle / Claremont Crescent east   Claremont, KarrakattaSouthern terminus. Continues as Curtin Avenue southwards to connect with Stirling Highway (State Route 5) via Eric Street
0.20.12 North Street (Tourist Drive 204)Connection to Servetus Street. Tourist Drive 204's (Sunset Coast Tourist Drive) southern section ends here.
NedlandsSwanbourne1.40.87Alfred Road east   Mount Claremont, Karrakatta / Campbell Barracks access road west
CambridgeMount Claremont-City Beach boundary3.32.1 Rochdale Road (State Route 65)  Subiaco, PerthNon-signalised intersection.
City Beach3.72.3 Challenger Parade (Tourist Drive 204)Non-signalised intersection. Tourist Drive 204's (Sunset Coast Tourist Drive) northern section commences here.
5.13.2Oceanic Drive   Floreat, West Leederville
6.23.9 Challenger Parade (Tourist Drive 204)Non-signalised intersection. Tourist Drive 204's (Sunset Coast Tourist Drive) southern concurrency terminus.
6.64.1 The Boulevard (State Route 72)  Floreat, Wembley
8.15.0Hale Road   Wembley Downs, Churchlands
StirlingScarborough9.86.1Brighton Road
10.26.3 Scarborough Beach Road (State Route 75)  Innaloo, Osborne Park, North Perth
10.56.5Manning Street
Trigg-Karrinyup boundary13.18.1 Marmion Avenue (State Route 71)  Marmion, Hillarys, Clarkson, Yanchep north / Karrinyup Road (State Route 76 / Tourist Drive 204 west)   Stirling, Morley, Eden HillNorthern terminus. Continues as Marmion Avenue northwards. Tourist Drive 204's (Sunset Coast Tourist Drive) northern concurrency terminus.
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
Note: Intersections with minor local roads are not shown

See also

References

  1. Distance book (12 ed.). Main Roads Western Australia. 2012. pp. 4–5. ISBN 0 7309 7657 2. Retrieved 3 January 2014.

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