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Roe Highway & Great Northern Highway (National Highway 95)

Statistics:

• Length: 1575 km
• Northern Terminus: Corner of the North West Coastal Highway (NR1) and Great Northern Highway (NH1) southwest of Port Hedland.
• Southern Terminus: Corner of Roe Highway (NH95 / SR3) and Great Eastern Highay (NH94) at Midvale, in Perth's eastern suburbs.
• Suburbs, Towns & Localities along route: Midvale, Middle Swan, Upper Swan, Bullsbrook, Muchea, Chittering, Bindoon, New Norcia, Glentromie, Waddington, Walebing, Bindi Bindi, Miling, Pithara, Dalwallinu, Wubin, Jibberding, Paynes Find, Mt Magnet, Lake Austin, Cue, Meekathara, Kumarina, Capricorn, Newman, Juna Downs, Indee and Port Hedland district.

Route Numbering:

• Current:
• Multiplexed with:

General Information:

• Roe Highway:

The Roe Highway section of NH95, is also signposted as state route 3, forming part of a ring road around the western and northern suburbs of Perth. It runs from from the junction with the Great Eastern Hwy (NH94 / SR51) at Midvale to the junction with Great Northern Hwy (NH95 / NR1) and Middle Swan Road (SR3) at Middle Swan. The route is arterial road standard, in some parts resembling a freeway.

• Great Northern Highway:

The Great Northern Highway links the north of WA with Perth and the port of Fremantle and is the main communication route between Perth and Darwin. It also forms part of the infrastructure that links the Murchison, Pilbara and Kimberley Regions to Perth. 1

The Great Northern Highway services the State's agricultural, pastoral, mining and tourism industries, and is the main route for the flow of goods and services to and from the State's north. In addition to it being a dedicated National Highway, it also serves as the classified Heavy Haulage and Wide/High Load Route to the north of the State, on which approximately 30% of the traffic is heavy vehicles, often carrying over-width loads such as mining machinery. 1

Its total length within Wheatbelt North Region is 277km and it passes through the Shires of Chittering, Victoria Plains, Moora and Dalwallinu. 1

The NH95 section is all rural highway standard and is among the remotest sealed roads in the world.

Multiplexes along the route include:

• National Route 1, for 33 km, between Great Northern Hwy (NR1), Reid Hwy (SR3) and Roe Hwy (NH95 / SR3) at Middle Swan, and Brand Hwy (NR1) and Muchea Rd East at Muchea
• State Route 3, for 4 km, between Great Eastern Hwy (SR51 and NH94) and Roe Hwy (NH94 / SR3) at Midland, and Great Northern Hwy (NR1), Reid Hwy (SR3) and Roe Hwy (NH95 / SR3) at Middle Swan
• Tourist Drive 203, for 9 km, between Great Northern Hwy (NR1), Reid Hwy (SR3), Roe Hwy (NH95 / NR1 / SR3) at Middle Swan and West Swan Rd (SR52) at Upper Swan
• Tourist Way 360, for 136 km, between West Swan Rd (SR52) at Upper Swan to Midlands Rd, Walebing

History:

• 12 December 1978: Completion of construction and sealing of the Great Northern Highway between Meekatharra and Newman. 2
• 1988: The third stage of the Roe Highway, linking Great Eastern Highway and Great Northern Highway opened. 1
• 1980s: Between Newman and Port Hedland the Great Northern Highway was changed in the to a new route running to the west of the original. It had previously passed through Nullagine and Marble Bar.
• 1989: The new Newman-Port Hedland link was finished. This marked the completion of sealing the Great Northern Highway (Perth to Port Hedland).
• 1995: Work starts on realigning and reconstructing the Great Northern Highway through Mt Magnet townsite. The project completed a Federally-funded project to widen the narrow seal from Wubin to Meekatharra which started in 1979. The work involved reconstruction of 2.4 kilometres of the Great Northern Highway through Mt Magnet and realignment of a total of five kilometres of the northern and southern approaches to the town. Part of the works included the improvement of the intersection with the Geraldton-Mt Magnet Road. The new alignment near the northern end of Mt Magnet eliminated two right angle bends. 3
• February 1998: Work starts on reconstruction and widening of a 2.7 km section of Great Northern Highway from the RAAF Base entrance at Bullsbrook to Rutland Road. 4
• 2002: Completion of a bypass of Dalwallinu 5
• 2005: Bridge strengthening and widening works on the bridge over Brockman River near Bindoon. 6
• January 2007: Completion of major improvements to the intersections of Tea Tree Road and Spice Road, south of Bindoon 5
• November 2007: Upgrade works begin on 83km of Great Northern Highway between Muchea and Bindi Bindi. Works include reconstruction, widening, new passing lanes, intersection upgrades and roadside amenity improvements such as parking bays and rest areas. 1
• July 2008: Completion of a major reconstruction of a 1.7 km section of Great Northern Highway between Apple Street and Shell roadhouse north of West Swan Road in Upper Swan. The 5 month project, included widening of the Highway from 7 metres to 11 metres with the addition of 2 metre sealed shoulders. The works also included a 3 metre wide asphalt surfaced truck bay opposite Ginger's (Gull) Roadhouse, capable of accommodating up to three B-Double road trains. 1
• October 2008: Reconstruction of a 1.9 km section of the Great Northern Highway from West Swan Road South to Haddrill Road at Upper Swan. 1
• March 2009: Widening works commence between Lennard St Herne Hill and the town of Muchea. Other work included adding a median, new street lighting and turning lanes. 7
• November 2015: Upgrades from Batty Bog to Walebing completed. Work included geometry, widening and overtaking opportunity improvements. 8
• November 2016: Construction commences on the reconstruction of the Miling Straight. 9
• 1 May 2017: The 6 km New Norcia Bypass opened to traffic on the eastern side of the town. 10
• April 2018: Construction commenced on the Miling Bypass from Lyons East Road to Miling North Road. 11
• 2018: Miling Straight opened to traffic. Work included building 23 km of new highway, between Miling North Road and Gatti Road, widening and upgrading 3 km of existing highway, construction of additional roadside stopping places, new overtaking lanes, and realignment of Miling North Road to provide a staggered T-intersection with Great Northern Highway to improve highway crossing safety. 9
• April 2018: Commencement of upgrade works at Pithara. Work included upgrading 16 kilometres of highway including construction of 10 kilometres of new road, six kilometres of widening, overlay works, two new overtaking lanes and a number of intersection improvements. 12

To view photos of the route. Click inside the green boxes in the maps below.

Perth to Meekatharra	Meekatharra To Port Hedland

1 Main Roads WA
2 State Library of Western Australia, Great Northern Highway Meekatharra to Newman, 12 December 1978
3 Government of Western Australia, Media Statements, Great Northern Highway contract awarded, 12 September 1995
4 Government of Western Australia, Media Statements, Main Roads contract awarded to Brierty Contractors to widen Great Northern Highway, 17 February 1998
5 Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
6 Government of Western Australia, Media Statements, Bridge strengthening works for Great Northern Highway, 29 June 2005
7 Government of Western Australia, Media Statements, Construction set to commence on Great Northern Highway, 18 February 2009
8 Main Roads Western Australia, Projects, Great Northern Highway - Batty Bog Road to Walebing Upgrade
9 Main Roads Western Australia, Projects, Miling Straight
10 Main Roads Western Australia, Projects, New Norcia Bypass - Complete
11 Main Roads Western Australia, Projects, Miling Bypass
12 Government of Western Australia, Media Statements, Work underway on two key Great Northern Highway upgrades, 24 April 2018

Last updated: 05-Jan-2019 22:20

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