Smart Freeway - Mitchell Southbound

The next ‘Smart Freeway’ is being rolled out from Hester Avenue to Vincent Street, with all 16 entry ramps to be modified with co-ordinated signals. Smart technologies will be installed from Reid Highway to Vincent Street, including 20 overhead electronic signs which can display speed reductions and let you know when a lane is closed ahead.

Other upgrades along the freeway include:

• Construction of an additional southbound lane from Hodges Drive to Hepburn Avenue.
• Construction of a dedicated lane from Hepburn Avenue entry ramp to Warwick Road exit ramp.
• Upgrade and build new shared paths between Ocean Reef Road and Warwick Train Station, connecting to the path adjacent to the freeway.
• Installation of safety barriers, emergency stopping bays, emergency breakdown lanes, and noise walls where required.

Mitchell Freeway between Ocean Reef Road and Camarino Drive

• Closed from 8 November 2022 until the end of March 2023. The existing path will be demolished and re-built as part of the works.
• Detour Map

Mitchell Freeway between Burns Beach Road and Shenton Avenue

• Sections of PSP temporarily closed from mid October.
• Detour Map

Mitchell Freeway between Bromley Place and Twickenham Drive

• Ongoing closure during 2023
• Detour map

Mitchell Freeway between Hodges Drive and Ocean Reef Road

• Ongoing closures during 2023
• Detour map

Mitchell Freeway between Kanangra Crescent and Darnley Avenue

• Ongoing closures during 2023
• Detour map 

Mitchell Freeway at Shenton Avenue

• Ongoing closures during 2023
• Detour map

Mitchell Freeway between St Johns Court and Hepburn Avenue

• Closed approximately mid 2023, it will re-open for several weeks and then be demolished to make way for the new path.
• Detour Map

The Hutton Street on-ramp is one of the very few ramps on our freeway network with intersections along its length, which are at Cape, Hector and McDonald streets.

Coordinated ramp signals will be installed to control the flow of traffic on the on-ramp and onto the freeway. These rely on multiple detectors placed at regular intervals on the on-ramps, with complex algorithms working in the background to control the flow of traffic along the entire freeway network and all entry points.

Where intersections exist along the length of an on-ramp, the coordinated ramp signalling system and the underlying algorithms would not be able to accurately measure and monitor traffic volumes entering and exiting the on-ramp. As a consequence of this, the performance of the on-ramp, intersecting roads, and the freeway will be compromised.

To support the safe, efficient and reliable operation of the Smart Freeway Mitchell Southbound and the surrounding local roads, numerous options have been considered.

Assessment of the overall impact to accessibility, safety, and congestion resulted in the recommendation for the Hutton Street on-ramp intersections with Hector and McDonald streets to be converted into cul-de-sacs.

This solution maintains a high level of service for the on-ramp and the freeway, reduces rat-running through the local road network, reduces the risk of significant queues developing on intersecting roads and the on-ramp , and reduces the stop-start conditions on the ramp created by intersecting roads.

Based on feedback from community and key stakeholders, further design options have been considered. Read more in the Fact Sheet - Changes to Hutton Street southbound on-ramp.

Noise walls 

Noise monitoring was undertaken to determine the locations and heights of noise walls, in line with State Planning Policy 5.4.

As a result, we will be building 5.5 km of noise walls between Ocean Reef Road and Warwick Station. Residents who will have a wall installed on their rear boundary have been, and will continue to be, consulted with.

Read more in the Noise Mitigation Fact Sheet.

Shared path

Both new and upgraded shared paths will be constructed to create a high standard route between Ocean Reef Road and Warwick Train Station. Forming part of the State Government’s PSP Expansion Program, the path will connect to paths adjacent to Mitchell Freeway.

Our Technical Path User Working Group has come up with some innovative designs to enable a three metre verge alongside the 8 kilometre shared path, which will be replanted with vegetation to improve community aesthetics.

We continue to work with key stakeholders to balance competing demands within the complex site constraints such as available land, sloping freeway verges, underground services, access and maintenance of the shared path, accessibility requirements in the design of the path, safety and efficiencies for the motoring public and path users, community needs, aesthetics and preferences.

Vegetation clearing

To enable construction of the new freeway ramp alignments, shared path and noise walls, the removal of vegetation in the road reserve adjacent to Mitchell Freeway southbound lanes has commenced.

The extent of vegetation clearing is varied along the freeway alignment. In some locations where the available land to construct the new infrastructure is narrow, or constrained by existing underground services, all of the existing vegetation will need to be cleared. In other locations, larger areas of vegetation will be retained because there is adequate land available to build the infrastructure.

Landscaping

To reinstate vegetation wherever possible, landscaping will be undertaken after construction activities are completed in the cooler months to ensure they adapt to the natural conditions and thrive.

The planting will comprise a mix of seeds and tubestock. To ensure similar species are used, seeds were collected along the vegetation alignment prior to construction, and stored for re-use during the landscaping program.

Community Reference Groups

Members of the community were invited to join our Community Reference Group which was established to provide a forum to facilitate and improve communication between the community, stakeholders and the project.

• CRG Workshop Summary - 30 November 2021 (PDF) - PDF
• CRG Workshop Summary - 19 October 2021 (PDF) - PDF
• CRG Workshop Summary - 24 August 2021 (PDF) - PDF
• CRG Workshop Summary - 20 July 2021 (PDF) - PDF

We make every effort to minimise impact on the surrounding environment.

Flora, vegetation and fauna surveys for the project were completed in 2019 and 2020 to help inform the planning. The design for this project has maximised the retention of existing vegetation wherever possible in the constrained areas.

However, clearing of vegetation is required along the infrastructure corridor within our road reserve. Most of this was planted by us when the freeway was constructed, with the intention of removing it when freeway expansion was required.

Environmental approvals

An environmental proposal was submitted for a section of the works adjacent to the freeway in November 2020 to Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) for approval. The proposal was considered a controlled action under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) in December 2020 and will be assessed under preliminary documentation by DAWE.

Below is the EPBC 2020/8833 referral documentation.

• EPBC Referral - Part 1 - PDF (18.3 MB)
• EPBC Referral - Part 2 - PDF (18.3 MB)
• EPBC Referral - Part 3 - PDF (18.9 MB)
• EPBC Referral - Part 4 - PDF (18.9 MB)
• EPBC Referral - Part 5 - PDF (18.8 MB)
• EPBC Referral - Part 6 - PDF (11.2 MB)

In accordance with Section 95A(3) of the EPBC Act, the preliminary documentation for the proposed action were made available for public comment from Thursday 8 July to Friday 23 July 2021.

• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - PDF (611 KB)
• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - Part 1 - PDF (18.9 MB)
• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - Part 2 - PDF (18.7 MB)
• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - Part 3 - PDF (18.4 MB)
• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - Part 4 - PDF (18.7 MB)
• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - Part 5 - PDF (18.3 MB)
• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - Part 6 - PDF (18.8 MB)
• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - Part 7 - PDF (18.8 MB)
• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - Part 8 - PDF (18.8 MB)
• EPBC Preliminary Documentation - Part 9 - PDF (16.8 MB)

On 5 October 2021, the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) approved our application for a Native Vegetation Clearing Permit, under Section 51C of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (EP Act), to clear native vegetation for this section of the works.

To facilitate construction of the shared path and works on the Hodges Drive and Hepburn Avenue entry ramps, a small area of native vegetation will be cleared under the Main Roads state-wide clearing permit CPS818/15 issued by DWER.

In some areas the proposed clearing will require removal of patches of Black Cockatoo habitat trees and Tuart Woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain Threatened Ecological Community.

To counterbalance these impacts the proposed clearing will be offset by the acquisition of 31.9ha of native vegetation at Lake Clifton, which includes Tuart Woodlands TEC and Black Cockatoo habitat, and is now under management by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA). We are also consulting with DBCA to implement revegetation of an additional 7.1 ha of land near the project area.

Project updates

• Construction update - Hepburn Avenue to Warwick Road - PDF (341 KB)
• Construction update - Ocean Reef Road to Whitfords Avenue - PDF (1.87 MB)
• Construction Update - Whitfords to Hepburn March 2023 -  PDF (3.88 MB)
• Project Update - Hester to Warwick - November 2022 - PDF (773 KB)
• Project Update - Hester to Warwick - July 2022 - PDF (307 KB)
• Project Update - Reid to Vincent - June 2022 - PDF (202 KB)
• Project Update - Hester to Warwick - April 2022 - PDF (2.63 MB)
• Construction Update - Hester to Warwick - September 2021 - PDF (1.67 MB) 
• Project Update - Hester to Warwick - May 2021 - PDF (527 KB)
• Project Update - Hester to Warwick - May 2020 - PDF (1.13 MB)

Project information

• Fact Sheet - Hutton Street on-ramp updated designs - PDF (2.77 MB)
• Map 1 - Noise wall and PSP Beach Road to Strathaven Crescent Greenwood - PDF (5.90 MB)
• Map 2 - Noise wall and PSP Darnley Avenue Greenwood to Twickenham Drive Kingsley - PDF (6.09 MB)
• Map 3 - Noise wall and PSP Twickenham Drive Kingsley to Ocean Reef Road Woodvale - PDF (3.09 MB)
• Map 4 - Noise wall and PSP Ocean Reef Road to Hodges Drive - PDF (2.28 MB)
• Concept Map - PSP alignment and noise walls - PDF (9.52 MB)
• Fact Sheet - Hester to Warwick - Pavement construction and vibration management - PDF (1.8 MB)
• Fact Sheet - Hester to Warwick - Shared path, noise walls and landscaping - PDF (164 KB)
• Facebook: Vincent Street off-ramp visualisation video
• Fact Sheet - Hester to Warwick - Environmental - PDF (762 KB)
• Fact Sheet - Hester to Warwick - Construction Impact - PDF (160 KB)
• Fact Sheet - Hester to Warwick - Shared Path - PDF (462 KB)
• Fact Sheet - Hester to Warwick - Noise Mitigation - PDF (315 KB)

Management plans

• Noise and Vibration Management Plan - Hester to Warwick - PDF (1.5 MB)

Media Statements

• Roll out of Smart Freeway technology continues on the Mitchell Southbound - 29 December 2021
• Job-creating transformation of Mitchell Freeway now underway - 16 May 2021
• Major transformation of Mitchell Freeway southbound a step closer - 16 April 2021
• Transformation to Mitchell Freeway southbound continues - 28 January 2021
• Major infrastructure projects developing Stirling into a hub of activity - 11 January 2021
• Mitchell Freeway gets smart with $100 million for time saving technology - 8 October 2020
• Quicker safer journeys for Mitchell Freeway southbound users - 23 June 2020
• Expressions of Interest sought for Mitchell Freeway southbound upgrade - 9 March 2020
• I​​nfrastructure to boost jobs and bust congestion - 20 November 2019

Funding

The Smart Freeway contract is jointly funded by the Australian ($70 million) and Western Australian ($70 million) Governments, while the additional lane from Hodges Drive to Hepburn Avenue and shared path upgrades are jointly funded by the Federal and State Governments and estimated to cost $76 million.