page_title: Great Eastern Highway
section_title: Future
hierarchical_section_title: Great Eastern Highway / Future
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the planned future alignment of Perth-Adelaide National Highway, along Toodyay Road (shown in red) and the proposed Orange Route (approximate alignment, shown as a dashed orange line). The current National Highway alignment is along Great Eastern Highway, shown in purple.
context_page_description: Great Eastern Highway is a 590-kilometre-long road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt and the Goldfields, it is the western portion of the main road link between Perth and the eastern states of Australia. The highway forms the majority of National Highway 94, although the alignment through the Perth suburbs of Guildford and Midland, and the eastern section between Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie are not included. Various segments form parts of other road routes, including National Route 1, Alternative National Route 94, and State Route 51.
  There are numerous intersections in Perth with other highways and main roads, including Canning, Albany, Tonkin and Roe Highways, and Graham Farmer Freeway. There are also two rural highways that spur off Great Eastern Highway. Great Southern Highway begins near Perth's eastern metropolitan boundary, linking towns such as York, Brookton, Narrogin, and Katanning.
context_section_description: There are long-term plans to bypass Great Eastern Highway's current ascent of the Darling Scarp. Planning for a new major road network in Perth's eastern corridor began in the 1970s. Early planning efforts between 1978 and 1981 for a new highway reservation from Mundaring to Wooroloo encountered community opposition, and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) requested a more detailed environmental assessment. In 1985, a study into the primary east-west traffic routes in the area was commissioned by the Main Roads Department, Metropolitan Region Planning Authority, Shire of Mundaring, and Shire of Swan. It recommended a new alignment, known as the "Orange Route", be selected for the Perth to Adelaide National Highway. Alternative routes were identified using other colours as codenames. The new national highway would travel north-east along Toodyay Road from Roe Highway to beyond Gidgegannup, and then deviate east via the proposed Orange Route to meet Great Eastern Highway near Wundowie. The ultimate design of the highway included grade-separated interchanges for all of the roads that it intersects. The Orange Route received environmental approval on 22 November 1989. Detailed planning for the Clackline to Wooroloo section of the Orange Route was to begin in 1998. As of 2012, construction of the Orange Route is not a priority for Main Roads. The project was not in the forward works program, there was no indication of the expected starting date, and a cost–benefit analysis had not been performed recently. Plans are still in development, but the federal government is responsible for financing the project.
caption: Future alignment of the Perth–Adelaide National Highway, along Toodyay Road (red) and the proposed Orange Route (dashed orange). The current alignment is along Great Eastern Highway (purple).
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