The things you learn - Perth's forgotten highway

[gemfyre]

Cameron 1 told me about this yesterday and I've since done a bit of research on it. I was particularly fascinated, having a newfound interest in the history of buildings around Perth.

In Osbourne Park there is a short section of road connecting Scarborough Beach Rd to Jon Sanders Drive. It's called Stephenson Avenue. I go along this road every day on the way to and from work and have sometimes wondered why there is so much space around the road and no businesses there. It's a 70 zone, a wide, dual carriageway with a big median strip, but it's barely 1km long.

Stephenson Ave is the only built part of a planned highway linking Mitchell Freeway at Osborne Park to West Coast Highway near North Cottesloe. It was to be called the Stephenson Highway. The other end of it is a road, also called Stephenson Ave, in Mount Claremont which runs along the southern side of Bold Park. The large empty spot beside Herdsman Lake among all the new housing developments is an old road reserve that has never been rezoned. Back in the 60s,when the highway was planned, Herdsman Lake was probably drained and slated to become an airstrip. These days building a major road so close to the lake would cause uproar. The road was intended to wend it's way down through what is now Wembley Golf Course and through part of Bold Park. The chances of that happening now are next to zero.

But there is also a bit of land set aside beside the storm drain that runs beside Ellen Stirling Boulevard and behind Ikea - this is the space to link the highway to the freeway, and apparently there is a push to get this section built. Could be interesting.

Comments

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

Back in the late 50's my parents found out about the plans for Stephenson Hwy, which included running through the middle-of-nowhere bush block they had just bought in Wembley Downs. I have a map showing the proposed highway going right through the middle of what is now Herdsmans Lake, but for most of my childhood it was just a swamp.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

I've just posted a picture of part of that map: http://stephbg.livejournal.com/521717.html

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

"Just" a swamp. :p

Intermittent wetlands are important too!

[melberon.livejournal.com]

"Cameron 1 told me about this [...]"

Stop it, you're turning into Kat! ;-)

Sif Camerons are numbered like that.

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

Down at the Innaloo food strip there's a planning office near The Punjab Restaurant for Stirling Alliance. They have Plans and are asking for community involvement.

http://www.stirlingcitycentre.com.au/index.php?id=96

[jet-ski.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure there's lots of these old road reserves around Perth. They usually make great redevelopment sites ! ;)

[flyingblogspot.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this - grahame and I are doing a project incorporating a lot of this sort of information and would love to hear about any more you come across!

[rdmasters.livejournal.com]

It is interesting that there is still a postcode reserved for 'Herdsman', and an ever-shrinking suburb boundary. Every development gets placed inside an existing suburb, rather than actually start a new suburb!