Beeliar Drive is a major arterial road in the southwestern part of the Perth Metropolitan Area. It provides an important and unbroken east-west link between Kwinana Freeway and Stock Road providing access to residential developments in Beeliar, Yangebup and Lake Coogee in the west to commercial and industrial development in Cockburn Central, Jandakot and Success in the east. It is one of Perth's more recent arterial road constructions with development of the road occurring between the early 1990s and early 2020s.
Beeliar Drive | |
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| Beeliar Drive looking west towards the intersection with Midgegoroo Avenue in Success | |
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| General information | |
| Type | Road |
| Length | 7.7 km (4.8 mi) |
| Opened | 1991 |
| Route number(s) |  State Route 14[1] (Spearwood Avenue to Armadale Road) |
| Major junctions | |
| East end | Solomon Road Jandakot |
| |
| West end | Mayor Road Lake Coogee |
| Location(s) | |
| Major suburbs | Cockburn Central, Success, Yangebup, Beeliar |
It commences at a roundabout with Rockingham Road in Lake Coogee as a continuation of Mayor Road and follows a gently curving pattern reflecting its original Noongar name in a due easterly direction 7.7 kilometres (4.8 mi) to terminate at a roundabout interchange with Armadale Road/Solomon Road in Jandakot. The road is signed as State Route 14 east of the Spearwood Avenue roundabout. As of 2021, Beeliar Drive is a four-lane dual carriageway for the vast majority of its length; the section west of Stock Road is two lanes while the section between Kwinana Freeway and Wentworth Parade is six lanes.
History
edit"Beeliar" is a Noongar word that translates to "river" or "water running through".[2][3][4] with the word lending its name to a number of features in southwestern Perth.
Prior to the 1990s the main east-west road connection in the area was Yangebup Road. Due to ongoing development in south-western Perth which the planned Kwinana Freeway extension was expected to exacerbate in conjunction with concerns the development would have on the ecologically sensitive Beeliar Wetlands the decision was made to realign the existing Yangebup Road corridor away from its existing location on the southern bank of Yangebup Lake to the south along the lake's watershed with neighbouring Kogolup Lake.[5] Construction of the new two-lane alignment occurred in 1991 and was timed to finish in line with the freeway extension, upon which it was renamed Beeliar Drive. Originally running from the freeway as far as Lorimer Road (now Spearwood Avenue), both the Kwinana Freeway and Beeliar Drive projects meant the original main road between Fremantle and Armadale, Forrest Road, was severed. The section west of the freeway was renamed North Lake Road and realigned to terminate at Beeliar Drive. The section east of the freeway, now renamed Armadale Road, was realigned to be an eastern continuation of Beeliar Drive, initially as a at-grade intersection with the Kwinana Freeway before being converted to a diamond interchange around the turn of the millennium.
A two-lane extension from Spearwood Avenue to Watson Road (in the vicinity of the existing Yangebup Road corridor) commenced in 2001 and included a grade-separated railway underpass to replace two separate at-level crossings on Yangebup Road.[6] In 2009, Beeliar Drive was extended to Stock Road, severing Yangebup Road's connection to the highway. Yangebup Road is now a series of local streets, with the section immediately south of the lake now a pathway.
Staged duplication of Beeliar Drive commenced in the early 2000s, with the section from Kwinana Freeway to Spearwood Avenue completed by 2006.[7] Prior to the early 2010s, Beeliar Drive was a single carriageway from Hammond Road to Dunraven Drive, near Spearwood Avenue. When Spearwood Avenue was fully extended and completed, Beeliar Drive too was upgraded to a dual carriageway. Beeliar Drive was also a single carriageway from Spearwood Avenue to Stock Road prior to 2016.[8] Four-laning was extended to just east of the Stock Road intersection in 2016-17 with the intersection itself upgraded in 2021.[9] Due to ongoing development of Cockburn Central and Success the section of Beeliar Drive between Kwinana Freeway and Wentworth Parade was upgraded to six lanes in 2014 with significant changes made to the old North Lake Road intersection, now renamed Midgegooroo Avenue.[10]
Current upgrades
editArmadale Road to North Lake Road Bridge
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This project involves the construction of a bridge over Kwinana Freeway with north-facing on and off ramps and have Armadale Road redirect to connect with North Lake Road instead of Beeliar Drive. This will remove another one of the state's black spots, the Beeliar Drive / Midgegooroo Avenue intersection, reduce congestion on the Kwinana Freeway interchange, and improve access to Cockburn Central railway station. As a result of the upgrade the old section of Armadale Road was renamed Beeliar Drive which now extends into the Jandakot industrial area, terminating at a roundabout interchange with Armadale Road. Beeliar Drive continues as Solomon Road east of the interchange.
This project will link with the Kwinana Freeway northbound widening from Russell Road to Roe Highway, as well as the Armadale Road widening. Construction began in late 2018 / early 2019, with completion occurring in December 2021.[11]
Major intersections
edit| LGA | Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cockburn | Lake Coogee | 0 | 0.0 | Rockingham Road north, south / Mayor Road west – Spearwood, Fremantle, Henderson | Roundabout; Beeliar Drive continues as Mayor Road west of this point |
| Lake Coogee–Yangebup–Beeliar tripoint | 0.3 | 0.19 |  Stock Road (National Route 1) – O'Connor, Fremantle, Rockingham | Traffic light intersection | |
| Yangebup–Beeliar boundary | 1.0 | 0.62 | Durnin Avenue | Roundabout | |
| 2.5 | 1.6 | Spearwood Avenue (State Route 14) – Spearwood, Coogee, Munster | Roundabout, State Route 14 western concurrency terminus | ||
| Cockburn Central–Success boundary | 5.2 | 3.2 | Kemp Road | Roundabout | |
| 5.5 | 3.4 | Hammond Road – South Lake, Hammond Park | Traffic light intersection | ||
| 6.5 | 4.0 | Wentworth Parade | Traffic light intersection | ||
| 6.7 | 4.2 | Midgegoroo Avenue north / Cockburn Gateway Shopping City access south – North Lake, Kardinya, Fremantle | Traffic light intersection, Midgegoroo Avenue connects North Lake Road to Beeliar Drive. Provides access to Cockburn Central railway station | ||
| Cockburn Central–Jandakot–Atwell–Success quadripoint | 7.2 | 4.5 |  Kwinana Freeway (State Route 2) – Joondalup, Perth, Mandurah | Diamond interchange | |
| Atwell–Jandakot boundary | 7.7 | 4.8 | Armadale Road (State Route 14) west, east / Solomon Road north – North Lake, Fremantle, Forrestdale, Armadale | Roundabout interchange favouring Armadale Road. Continues as Solomon Road north. Provides access to Cockburn Central railway station | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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See also
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References
edit- ^ Distance book (12 ed.). Main Roads Western Australia. 2012. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-7309-7657-8. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ Bindon, Peter; Chadwick, Ross; Western Australian Museum, eds. (2011). A Nyoongar wordlist: from the south-west of Western Australia (2nd ed.). Welshpool, W.A: Western Australian Museum. ISBN 978-1-920843-59-5.
- ^ Beeliar: Perth's Noongar place names, retrieved 17 May 2021
- ^ Collard, Len; Bracknell, Clint (2012). "Beeliar Boodjar: An introduction to Aboriginal history in the City of Cockburn, Western Australia". Australian Aboriginal Studies. 2012 (1): 86–91. ISSN 0729-4352.
- ^ "Yangebup Road realignment" (PDF). Environmental Protection Authority. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ "SUMMARY OF MINUTES OF ORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY, 15 MAY 2001 AT 7:30 P.M." CITY OF COCKBURN. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ "SUMMARY OF MINUTES OF ORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY, 15 FEBRUARY 2005 AT 7:00 PM". City of Cockburn. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ "Google Maps".
- ^ "Stock Road and Beeliar Drive Intersection Upgrade". Main Roads. Archived from the original on 29 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ "Regional Major Roadworks". City of Cockburn. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ Cipriano, Belinda (14 March 2018). "Sod turning marks the start of Armadale Road upgrades". Cockburn Gazette. Community News. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.