Stirling Highway

View west from Webster Street in Nedlands
General information
TypeHighway
Length13 km (8.1 mi)
Opened1930s
Route number(s) State Route 5
Major junctions
Northeast end Mounts Bay Road (State Route 5), Crawley
 
Southwest end High Street (State Route 7), Fremantle
Location(s)
Major suburbsNedlands, Claremont, Cottesloe, Mosman Park, North Fremantle
Highway system

Stirling Highway is, for most of its length, a four-lane single carriageway and major arterial road between Perth, Western Australia and the port city of Fremantle in Western Australia on the northern side of the Swan River. The speed limit is 60 km/h (37 mph). East of Crawley, it continues as Mounts Bay Road which links Crawley and the nearby University of Western Australia to the Perth central business district.

The highway passes through several of Perth's western suburbs, such as Nedlands, Claremont, Peppermint Grove, Cottesloe and Mosman Park. It also passes the University of Western Australia in Crawley, and several private secondary schools – namely Christ Church Grammar School, Presbyterian Ladies' College and Methodist Ladies' College. In addition, major shopping areas exist at Claremont and Cottesloe, while many smaller businesses and retailers are dotted along the highway. The section of road from Cottesloe leading south runs alongside the railway.

History

Stirling Highway initially developed as a rough track linking the new townsites of Perth and Fremantle following the establishment of the Swan River Colony in 1829. Construction of a formal road along the track's alignment did not take place for several decades, due to labour shortages, the slow initial development of the colony, the initial absence of a bridge across the Swan River at the southern end of the track, and the use of the river itself as the principal means of transport between the towns.

Halfway tree: historical marker for the tree where mail was exchanged between Perth and Fremantle until 1867.

Convict labour was used to construct the road after the colony was constituted as a penal settlement in 1850, and this was completed by 1858. The road was declared a public highway in 1881.

The Perth to Fremantle railway line was completed in 1881, running alongside the road for part of its length. This spurred the development of Perth's western suburbs, including land alongside the road.

The road was known as the Perth-Fremantle Road until 1932,[1] when it was renamed for the first Governor of Western Australia, Admiral Sir James Stirling. Construction of the modern highway was formally commenced in the 1930s. It was completed in sections of approximately 1.6 kilometres (1 mile) per year. The schedule was as follows:

At the peak of trams and trolleybuses in metropolitan Perth (from the 1930s to the early 1950s) several routes ran along Stirling Highway, and steel poles along the edge of the highway were used to hold the required wiring. Following the dismantling of the tramways, the remaining poles became rusty and quite unsightly, and most were removed in the early 2000s as part of the underground power project.[2]

In the 1970s, a new crossing of the Swan River was constructed slightly to the east of the Fremantle Traffic Bridge. Named the Stirling Bridge, it was opened in 1974 by Premier Charles Court.[3][4] The highway was rerouted to the new bridge, and terminated at Canning Highway. The new bridge was part of a longer-term proposal to construct a new bypass of central Fremantle.[5]

An extension further south from Canning Highway to High Street was opened on 26 November 1985 by the federal and state Ministers for Transport, Peter Morris and Julian Grill.[6] The cost of the project reached A$5.5m, including the compulsory acquisition and demolition of 90 homes. The project was jointly funded by the state and federal governments and was designed by consulting engineers, Airey, Ryan and Hill for the Main Roads Department, who undertook construction of the highway.[5] This section represented the first part of the planned Fremantle Eastern Bypass. Those plans have since been cancelled, and High Street represents Stirling Highway's permanent southern/western terminus.

Major intersections

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

LGALocationkmmiDestinationsNotes
PerthCrawley00.0 Winthrop Avenue (State Route 61)  Subiaco, West Perth, Joondanna, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, University of Western AustraliaEastern terminus. Continues as Mounts Bay Road (State Route 5) eastwards. Traffic can enter the UWA entrance on the south side of the intersection but cannot exit.
PerthNedlands boundaryCrawleyNedlands boundary0.50.31Hampden Road north / Broadway south – Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, University of Western Australia
NedlandsNedlands1.50.93Dalkeith Road  Dalkeith
NedlandsClaremont boundaryNedlandsClaremont boundary2.61.6Loch Street  Karrakatta, Mount ClaremontAccess to Loch Street railway station.
ClaremontClaremont3.42.1Leura AvenueAccess to Claremont railway station.
3.62.2Bay View Terrace
3.92.4Stirling Road  Dalkeith, Swanbourne
ClaremontCottesloe boundaryClaremontCottesloe boundary5.13.2 Eric Street (State Route 71) west  Swanbourne, Scarborough, Hillarys / Osborne Parade eastAccess to Cottesloe Beach and Grant Street railway station. Main connection to West Coast Highway (State Route 71)
CottesloePeppermint Grove boundaryCottesloePeppermint Grove boundary6.13.8Napoleon Street west / Leake Street east
6.23.9Jarrad StreetAccess to Cottesloe railway station.
CottesloeMosman Park boundaryCottesloeMosman Park boundary7.04.3Salvado Street west / Willis Street eastNon-signalised, however Salvado Street provides a crossing of the Fremantle railway line to the west.
7.34.5Glyde Street
7.84.8Victoria StreetAccess to Victoria Street railway station.
Mosman ParkMosman Park8.15.0Wellington Street
FremantleNorth Fremantle9.15.7McCabe Street
10.06.2Alfred Road
10.36.4 Queen Victoria Street (State Route 12)  Fremantle
10.76.6 Tydeman Road (Tourist Drive 204) west  Cottesloe, Fremantle Harbour / John Street eastSimilar arrangement as the Winthrop Avenue intersection where traffic can access John Street from Stirling Highway or Tydeman Road but cannot exit. Tourist Drive 204 (Sunset Coast Tourist Drive) northern concurrency terminus.
Swan River11.0–
11.4
6.8–
7.1
Stirling Bridge
East FremantleEast Fremantle11.57.1 Canning Highway (State Route 6  Fremantle, Applecross, Como, Perth Airport Tourist Drive 204 (Sunset Coast Tourist Drive) southern terminus.
East FremantleFremantle boundaryEast FremantleFremantle boundary12.27.6Marmion Street  Palmyra, Myaree, Booragoon
FremantleFremantle12.67.8 High Street (State Route 7)  Myaree, Bull Creek, Shelley, Perth AirportSouthern 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. "The Land Act, 1898. Change of Name of Street. "Perth-Fremantle Road."" (PDF). Western Australia Government Gazette. 24 March 1932. p. 394.
  2. "underground power project". Archived from the original on 10 September 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  3. Roads Australian Transport March 1975 page 15
  4. Nomination of Stirling Bridge for an Engineering Heritage Australia Heritage Recognition Award Engineers Australia July 2014
  5. 1 2 Stirling Highway southern extension (January 1986). Western Roads: official journal of the Main Roads Department, Western Australia, 11(1), p.15. Perth: Main Roads Department.
  6. Stirling Highway Southern Extension plaque, 1985, retrieved 14 May 2019

Further reading

  • Edmonds, Leigh (1997). The vital link: a history of Main Roads Western Australia 1926-1996. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1-875560-87-4.
  • "WhereiS.com". Sensis. Retrieved 17 April 2006.
  • "Town of Cottesloe: History". Retrieved 6 July 2006.
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