page_title: Marmion Avenue
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Marmion Avenue / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Highway sign for Marmion Avenue, Western Australia.
context_page_description: Marmion Avenue is a 40-kilometre arterial road in the northern coastal suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking Trigg in the south with Yanchep in the north. It forms part of State Route 71 along with West Coast Highway, which it joins onto at its southern terminus.
context_section_description: Marmion Avenue was first built as an arterial road that tracked the then-new outer northern suburbs of Perth, following the limit of the Perth metropolitan area as it expanded northwards. In the late 1960s, the road originally began at Beach Road in Marmion, giving the road its namesake.
  Until the early 1980s, the road was a two-lane single carriageway connecting the coastal suburbs of Marmion and Mullaloo Beach. In 1984-85, the road was extended southwards to Karrinyup Road where it joined seamlessly onto West Coast Highway, which had been realigned further inland around the same time. Now the most important road in Perth's coastal suburbs, Marmion Avenue was duplicated up to Whitfords Avenue. In early 1986, it was assigned State Route 71, and from then on was gradually extended as a single carriageway road further north - extending first to Prendiville Avenue (just north of Ocean Reef Road), to Burns Beach Road in 1991 and to Quinns Road in the mid-1990s. Marmion Avenue was finally duplicated to its terminus in 2001, with the last portion being the empty stretch between Burns Beach Road & Quinns Rocks.
  In 2000 and 2001, Reid Highway was extended as a two lane road from its terminus at Mitchell Freeway to Marmion Avenue, providing another link to the east. This section was later upgraded to a four-lane dual carriageway in 2015-2016.
  After delays due to disagreements at State Government level about what route the road should follow, Marmion Avenue was extended further north to Yanchep and opened to traffic in November 2008. The extension opened as a single carriageway, but earthworks have already been undertaken to enable conversion to dual carriageway at a later date, which eventuated starting from 2018. The extension also features roundabouts at future major junctions. The completion of this extension allowed the future satellite city of Alkimos/Eglinton to begin construction.
  On July 1, 2010, fixed red light and speed cameras were installed at the Marmion Avenue / Hepburn Avenue intersection to fine people who run red lights and speed, so the number of road deaths in Western Australia can be reduced.
  In 2016, the existing Marmion Avenue / Mullaloo Drive intersection was upgraded from a non-signalised t-junction to a roundabout in response to a ranking as the 39th Worst Intersection. Pedestrian paths were re-aligned, off-road cycling paths were added, Western Power light poles were upgraded and crash barriers were installed to protect residents and pedestrians.
  As part of Main Roads Western Australia's Traffic Congestion Management Program, Marmion Avenue's intersections with Hepburn Avenue and Whitfords Avenue were upgraded during 2016 and 2017 to improve traffic flow and safety. Between 2010 and 2015, there were 249 crashes at both of these intersections combined, and 72,000 vehicle use both these intersections per day. This project was funded by the state government, and cost $12 million. Longer and additional turning lanes were added, pedestrian and cycling facilities were upgraded, traffic signals were upgraded and power lines were put underground. CCTV was also installed so that Main Roads can monitor traffic flow. Construction started in November 2016 and finished ahead of schedule in May 2017.
  During 2017, works were undertaken to widen Marmion Avenue to a four-lane dual carriageway between Lukin Drive and Butler Boulevard. The project cost $2.21 million and was funded by the City of Wanneroo. Construction started in February 2017 and was complete by August.
  Construction started in 2018 on upgrading Marmion Avenue north of Camborne Parkway, from the current 2-lane single carriageway to a 4-lane dual carriageway. The state government has allocated the City of Wanneroo $23 million to upgrade the road. It is being done in three stages, with the first stage up to Alkimos already completed. The whole project is scheduled to be complete by 2020.
caption: Approximate road distances (in kilometres) of coastal suburbs from Trigg onwards.
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