Smart Freeway Kwinana Northbound

Project summary

Freeway congestion in Perth represents a growing barrier to the efficient and reliable movement of people and goods around our city. Main Roads WA has been undertaking short and long term planning on the Mitchell and Kwinana Freeways to ensure consistent, reliable and improved travel times for all road users. The Transforming Perth’s Freeways strategic program has been developed to provide a holistic approach to transform Mitchell and Kwinana Freeways as Perth’s population is expected to grow to over 2.7 million between 2031 and 2036.

The Smart Freeway Kwinana Northbound project was designed to reduce congestion, improve safety and make better use of existing infrastructure. This project was the largest Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) project Main Roads WA has ever undertaken. More than 800 ITS devices were installed on the Kwinana Freeway northbound to create a Smart Freeway. The devices support smart technologies used to enable an All Lanes Running system between the Canning Highway and the Narrows Bridge, where the emergency lane was converted into an additional traffic lane. In addition, these technologies also enable adjustments to speed limits to facilitate more traffic during busy periods, open and close traffic lanes in the event of an incident and control the flow of traffic onto the freeway via the on-ramps.

A Smart Freeway was the best solution for the constrained section between Canning Highway and Narrows Bridge where the railway and Swan River prevented traditional widening. The project delivered greater journey reliability and improved travel times, enhanced safety and reduced construction costs.

Project delivery

Despite the changes in travel patterns and increased traffic demand brought on by the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, this stretch of the Kwinana Freeway is achieving an average travel time saving of five minutes on a regular basis, while also accommodating on average a 13 per cent traffic increase across the Narrows Bridge during the morning peak hour. Servicing a greater volume of traffic with improved travel times, this section of Kwinana Freeway is now more productive and efficient than ever before.

Along with installing new technologies and traffic signals at five northbound on-ramps, Perth’s first Smart Freeway involved converting the emergency lane into an additional traffic lane, from Canning Highway to the Narrows. With Main Roads WA trained staff managing traffic on the freeway and entry ramps, congestion has been reduced, safety increased, and travel times improved.

Closer look

Impact on freight and supply chains

The Mitchell and Kwinana Freeways – Perth’s north/south transport spine – was identified by Infrastructure Australia in its recent audits as needing attention to address congestion. The area between Canning Highway and the Narrows Bridge, nearly half of the 16.8km project, is a location where space precluded a traditional road widening approach, but ideally suited the installation of ITS technologies to assist the journeys of the 90,000+ vehicles who travelled this route daily.

The new smart technology allows Main Roads’ Road Network Operations Centre to actively manage the freeway in real time by opening and closing traffic lanes and adjusting speed limits when required. New traffic signals have also been installed on five northbound on-ramps from Farrington Road to Cranford Avenue. This helps regulate the number of vehicles entering and manage stop/start conditions on the freeway, improving congestion and make merging easier and safer during busy periods.

Stakeholder engagement

There were pockets of stakeholders who were directly impacted by construction activities, but the introduction of the overhead gantries and LUS were largely restricted to areas without homes nearby. Several thousand households were targeted with information about the project through direct mail. At times when night construction noises were to impact homes, targeted communications were provided to key addresses.

All users of the Kwinana Freeway system were targeted through a $1 million intensive education campaign to inform people of what to expect on the roads and how drivers should react. The campaign drove stakeholders to a purpose- built website which provided large volumes of easily explained and accessible information.

This campaign involved television, radio, outdoors and other advertising spending, as well as significant social and traditional media channels. Detailed project briefings were also provided to industry body groups throughout the project life to increase understanding of the new technology being introduced.

Project delivery

The project was a delivered as a Main Roads Alliance between BMD Constructions, Ventia, Arup and Main Roads WA.

Lessons learned

Given this was the first “Smart Freeway” designed and constructed within Western Australia, Main Roads WA has been able to identify a range of improvements which can now be delivered through the next Smart Freeway project, “Smart Freeway – Mitchell Southbound”.

The constrained nature of the site tested and improved the knowledge around construction practices within Main Roads WA. This knowledge is now being applied to other Main Roads projects where land constraints come into play.

Other key learnings included managing technology commissioning during COVID-19 travel restrictions and the different tools to use; operational readiness trials with emergency services prior to opening proved exceptionally valuable in testing processes and technology; and a recognition of the importance of involving operations’ and asset owner teams throughout the design and delivery of construction projects.