$16.5M Mitchell Freeway upgrade complete in Western Australia

Crews have completed construction of the Mitchell Freeway’s new northbound lane near Stirling, WA.

This marks the first of several infrastructure projects which are aimed at creating Perth’s second CBD, the Stirling City Centre.

Construction of the new lane between Cedric and Hutton Streets created 50 jobs. It’s expected to save drivers two minutes of a peak hour journey.

The $16.5 million project will cut travel times between Cedric and Hutton from eight minutes to six.

A total of 331 crashes were recorded on this section of the Mitchell Freeway in the five years to December 31, 2019. Nearly 69 per cent of those were rear-end crashes, which suggests congestion or driver inattention may have been involved.

As this project is the first of many in the area the Western Australian Government will be releasing a tender for the $140 million Smart Freeway upgrade of the Mitchell Freeway, from Hester Avenue to Vincent Street, later this week.

In total the state and federal government will invest around $250 million to transform the area around Stirling City Centre.

This includes $165 million for the Stephenson Avenue Extension project for which Stage one is already underway and stage two is expected to start later this year.

Other projects include the upgrade of the Stirling Bus Interchange and the extension of the Principal Shared Path from Civic Place to Erindale Road.

Premier Mark McGowan said our northern suburbs continue to grow so it’s important we deliver the infrastructure we need for tomorrow.

“We have a range of infrastructure projects underway or planned, worth almost a quarter of a billion dollars, which are anticipated to create and support more than 2,700 local jobs.”