page_title: Tonkin Highway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tonkin Highway / History
caption_attribution_description: original section of Tonkin Hwy
context_page_description: Tonkin Highway is a 81-kilometre-long north-south highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth Airport and Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-eastern suburbs. As of April 2020, the northern terminus is at the interchange with Brand Highway and Great Northern Highway in Muchea, and the southern terminus is at Thomas Road in Oakford. It forms the entire length of State Route 4, and connects to several major roads. Besides Brand Highway and Great Northern Highway, it also connects to Reid Highway, Great Eastern Highway, Leach Highway, Roe Highway, and Albany Highway.
  Planning for the route began in the 1950s, but the first segment between Wattle Grove and Cloverdale was not opened until 1980. Over the next five years, the highway was extended north to Great Eastern Highway and south to Albany Highway, and a discontinuous section was constructed north of the Swan River. In 1988 the Redcliffe Bridge linked these sections, and three years later, Reid Highway became the northern terminus. The next major works on the highway, between 2003 and 2005, extended the highway south to Thomas Road.
context_section_description: A proposal for a highway along a similar alignment was first proposed in 1955, as part of a network of arterial roads under a metropolitan-wide plan produced for the Western Australian government by Gordon Stephenson and Alastair Hepburn. The road reservation was formally gazetted in the 1963 Metropolitan Region Scheme. It was first named "Beechboro-Gosnells Highway", the name coming from the two suburbs it was originally planned to link. Like most Perth arterial road projects, the highway was built in stages.  It was initially constructed as a 3.3-kilometre-long (2.1 mi) dual carriageway, from Welshpool Road, Wattle Grove to Hardey Road in Cloverdale, which opened on 16 June 1980. A further 12.2 kilometres (7.6 mi), that linked the new highway to Albany Highway in Gosnells, was completed in December 1980. This $6.1 million section, which officially opened on 22 December 1980, was the start of a new route between Gosnells and Bellevue, and reduced traffic volume and congestion on Albany Highway.
  The third segment to be constructed was a 3.6-kilometre-long (2.2 mi) section north of the Swan River, from Railway Parade in Bayswater to Morley Drive, which opened on 11 July 1984. This $3.5 million section was constructed by Thiess Contractors Pty Ltd, with Taylor Woodrow International Ltd responsible for constructing the Broun Avenue bridge. Stage 4 linked Hardey Road and Great Eastern Highway, and included the construction of four bridges over the Forrestfield railway marshalling yards, the first bridges in Australia to be constructed using the incremental launch technique. Upon opening on 1 May 1985, Beechboro-Gosnells Highway was renamed "Tonkin Highway", in honour of former Premier of Western Australia John Tonkin. Tonkin had also been the Minister for Works during the planning and construction of the Narrows Bridge and Kwinana Freeway in the 1950s. A ceremony was held at Redcliffe on 1 May by the Premier of Western Australia Brian Burke, who unveiled a plaque. Tonkin, who at the time was aged 83, cut the ribbon at the ceremony to officially open the new Forrestfield to Redcliffe section of the highway. A grade-separated interchange was constructed at Great Eastern Highway in 1986, which included a six lane road bridge over Tonkin Highway and a pedestrian subway. It was constructed earlier than initially planned, as heavy traffic from Perth Airport was expected during the 1987 America's Cup.
  Construction on a link between the northern and southern sections of Tonkin Highway began in 1988. Included in this $48 million stage was the Redcliffe Bridge over the Swan River, and an interchange with Guildford Road, north of the bridge. The 270-metre-long (890 ft) Redcliffe Bridge, also built using the incremental launching technique, was designed to carry six traffic lanes, as well as pedestrian and cycle paths that could be converted into traffic lanes when required. The bridge deck is supported by a narrow central section with cantilever extensions on each side, as a "big heavy bridge would have looked out of place" at a relatively narrow section of the river. The bridge opened on 16 April 1988, and received awards for engineering excellence from both the national and state branches of the Institute of Engineers, Australia.
  The highway was then extended northwards, reaching Benara Road on 18 December 1989, and Reid Highway on 11 November 1991. Tonkin Highway spent a decade remaining largely unchanged, linking Reid Highway in Malaga with Albany Highway in Gosnells. In 2003, construction of a new southern extension commenced. Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan and the Member for Roleystone, Martin Whitely, participated in a sod turning ceremony on 27 June 2003, to mark the start of the project. At the time, the $140 million extension was the largest single road project in Western Australia. The project was completed in two stages, with Armadale Road as the midpoint. The first 11-kilometre-long (6.8 mi) section, including a new interchange at Albany Highway, was opened by Premier Geoff Gallop and Alannah MacTi
caption: View south along Ferres Drive in Gosnells, towards Albany Highway. This road is a former section of Tonkin Highway that was bypassed when the extension to Thomas Road was constructed.
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