Alexander Drive

(Redirected from Fitzgerald Street) Road in Perth, Western Australia

Alexander Drive Western Australia

Looking south, in Dianella

General information
Type	Road
Length	16 km (9.9 mi)
Opened	1932
Route number(s)	State Route 56 (Walcott Street to Gnangara Road)
Major junctions
South end	Walcott Street, Menora
	Morley Drive (State Route 76) Reid Highway (State Route 3) Gnangara Road (State Route 84)
North end	Cul-de-sac north of Gnangara Road, Gnangara
Location(s)
Major suburbs	Dianella, Mirrabooka, Ballajura, Landsdale

Alexander Drive is a major north–south arterial road in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, connecting Perth's central business district (CBD) with Edith Cowan University's Mount Lawley campus and the Malaga industrial area, as well as newer development suburbs to Perth's north. It is used by Transperth bus routes, including the 360, 361 and 362. Alexander Drive was named after Mr S.B. Alexander, a former Wanneroo Road Board member. Alexander Drive runs through the following local government areas City of Wanneroo, City of Swan, City of Bayswater and City of Stirling.

It is known as Road No. 7354 in plans and maps.

Route description

Fitzgerald Street

State Route 56 starts in Northbridge, adjacent to Perth's CBD, as Fitzgerald Street, travelling northwards through West Perth and North Perth before becoming Alexander Drive at the intersection of Walcott Street.

Alexander Drive officially commences at the traffic light intersection of Walcott Street in Menora in the City of Stirling, with Alexander Drive travelling entirely through the suburb for 700 metres (2,300 ft) before reaching Bradford Street. It briefly borders Mount Lawley and the suburb's Edith Cowan University campus for 350 metres (1,150 ft) before reaching Central Avenue, and changing borders to the east with Inglewood. The border to the west changes to Yokine only 550 metres (1,800 ft) later. About 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) later the road is within the suburb of Dianella, with the Woodrow Avenue intersection not any further down.

From Woodrow Avenue, Alexander Drive intersects Grand Promenade 900 metres (3,000 ft) later, and then Morley Drive at a hamburger roundabout 600 metres (2,000 ft) down the road. This roundabout also features left-in/left-out junctions with the northwestern and southeastern sections of a residential distributor road, The Strand. The road travels through Dianella for 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) before reaching Reid Highway at a diamond interchange. Between there and Widgee Road/Hellenic Drive, Alexander Drive briefly borders Noranda and the City of Bayswater to the east.

After the Reid Highway interchange Alexander Drive now forms the border of the City of Stirling and Mirrabooka to the west, and the City of Swan and Malaga to the east. It reaches Beach Road 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), after which the border to the west changes to the City of Wanneroo and Koondoola. 550 metres (1,800 ft) north of there, the road intersects with Illawarra Crescent South and the border to the east becomes Ballajura. It then reaches Marangaroo Drive 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) later, after which the border to the west changes to Alexander Heights. It intersects with Illawarra Crescent North 1 kilometre (0.62 mi), and then Hepburn Avenue 600 metres (2,000 ft).

After Hepburn Avenue, the road now borders Landsdale to the west and Cullacabardee to the east. To the west is mostly residential areas and some bushland and farming area soon to be converted into residential development, while to the east is exclusively bushland and rural area. Alexander Drive travels along these suburbs for 2.8 kilometres (1.7 mi) before reaching Gnangara Road. This intersection marks the northern terminus of State Route 56, but not Alexander Drive, which ends at a cul-de-sac north of the intersection.

History

In May 1932, the Perth Road Board (now City of Stirling) decided to rename Fitzgerald Street, north of Walcott Street, to Alexander Drive after Mr S.B. Alexander, who was a member of the Wanneroo Road Board (now City of Wanneroo). The name change was official made by the state government's Department of Lands and Surveys in September 1932. In 1939, improvement works were proposed for Alexander Drive and other roads in the area. These works included concrete kerbing, surfacing with a two coat bitumen seal, and widening from 16 feet (4.9 m) to 20 feet (6.1 m).

The north–south portion from Marangaroo Drive to Widgee Road was historically called Uganda Road and was barely more than a track, but was renamed when the dual carriageway was built in the late 1970s. The name change was made official in March 1979. The road was duplicated from Beach Road to the location of what is now the present-day Hepburn Avenue during the early 1990s, also during the time Reid Highway linked Alexander Drive to Malaga Drive; this was subsequently extended west from there.

In 2006, the original single carriageway northbound from Hepburn Ave was upgraded to a dual carriageway to Gnangara Road, where State Route 56 ends.

Traffic lights were installed at the intersection with Gnangara Road in 2007. In 2011, the original traffic light intersection with Reid Highway was upgraded to a diamond interchange. Reid Highway is now uninterrupted over traffic light junctions at Alexander Drive.

The MAX light rail system, which would run along Alexander Drive and Fitzgerald Street, was announced in 2012. The plans were modified to bus rapid transit in 2015, before being cancelled in 2016.

Major intersections

View southbound from Gnangara Road

All intersections listed below are signalised unless otherwise indicated. Note that the length includes Fitzgerald Street for continuity.

LGA	Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Perth	Perth–Northbridge boundary	0.0	0.0	Roe Street – West Perth	Fitzgerald Street southern terminus
	Northbridge	0.1	0.062	James Street	Access from Graham Farmer Freeway westbound exit
	Northbridge	0.3	0.19	Piazza Nanni westbound / Aberdeen Street eastbound	Mitchell Freeway Principal Shared Path terminates here via Piazza Nanni. Access to St Brigid's Church parking. Southern terminus of peak hour bus lanes
Perth–Vincent boundary	West Perth–Northbridge–Perth tripoint	0.5	0.31	Newcastle Street – Leederville	Access to/from Mitchell Freeway to the south
Vincent	West Perth–Perth boundary	0.7	0.43	Carr Street westbound / Stuart Street eastbound	No through traffic between Carr and Stuart Streets. Stuart Street is left-only to Fitzgerald Street southbound and is controlled by give-way signs. No right turn permitted between Fitzgerald Street southbound to Carr Street. Access to Carr Street from Fitzgerald Street northbound via slip lane.
	West Perth–Perth boundary	1.1	0.68	Bulwer Street (State Route 72) – Leederville, Wembley, City Beach, Highgate	State Route 56 () southern terminus
	West Perth–North Perth–Perth tripoint	1.3	0.81	Vincent Street – Leederville, Mount Lawley	No right turn permitted between Vincent Street east to Fitzgerald Street south.
	North Perth	2.0	1.2	Angove Street – Mount Hawthorn, Osborne Park
Vincent–Stirling boundary	North Perth–Menora boundary	2.7	1.7	Walcott Street (State Route 75) – Mount Lawley, Osborne Park, Innaloo, Scarborough	Change of name to Alexander Drive. Northern terminus of peak hour bus lanes
Stirling	Menora–Mount Lawley boundary	3.4	2.1	Bradford Street	Access to Edith Cowan University Mount Lawley campus
	Menora–Inglewood–Mount Lawley tripoint	3.8	2.4	Central Avenue – Maylands	Access to Edith Cowan University Mount Lawley campus
	Dianella	5.5	3.4	Woodrow Avenue – Yokine
		6.3	3.9	Grand Promenade (State Route 55) – Bedford, Bayswater
		6.7– 7.0	4.2– 4.3	Morley Drive (State Route 76) west & east / The Strand northwest & southeast – Stirling, Karrinyup, Morley, Bedford	Hamburger roundabout with Alexander Drive splitting in two. Morley Drive is signalised while The Strand is controlled with give-way signs. Traffic typically turning right from Morley Drive onto Alexander Drive must turn left and follow roundabout first.
		7.7	4.8	Light Street
		8.3	5.2	Gordon Road West	Gordon Road West westbound LILO only with access from Alexander Drive northbound via unsignalised slip lane.
		8.7	5.4	Yirrigan Drive – Mirrabooka, Nollamara, Balcatta
Stirling–Bayswater boundary	Dianella–Noranda boundary	8.7	5.4	Hellenic Drive westbound / Widgee Road eastbound
Stirling–Swan–Bayswater tripoint	Mirrabooka–Malaga–Noranda–Dianella quadripoint	9.5– 9.7	5.9– 6.0	Reid Highway (State Route 3) – North Beach, Balcatta, Beechboro, Midland	Diamond interchange favouring Reid Highway.
Stirling–Swan boundary	Mirrabooka–Malaga boundary	10.3	6.4	Victoria Road
Wanneroo–Swan–Stirling tripoint	Koondoola–Malaga–Mirrabooka boundary	11.5	7.1	Beach Road – Carine, Warwick, Dayton
Wanneroo–Swan boundary	Koondoola–Ballajura–Malaga tripoint	12.0	7.5	Illawarra Crescent northeast bound
	Alexander Heights–Ballajura–Koondoola tripoint	13.2	8.2	Marangaroo Drive (State Route 81) – Ballajura, Girrawheen, Marangaroo
	Alexander Heights–Ballajura boundary	14.2	8.8	Illawarra Crescent southeastbound
	Landsdale–Cullacabardee–Ballajura–Alexander Heights quadripoint	14.8	9.2	Hepburn Avenue (State Route 82) – Hillarys, Greenwood, Bennett Springs, Malaga
	Gnangara–Cullacabardee–Landsdale tripoint	17.7	11.0	Gnangara Road (State Route 84) – Mullaloo, Wangara, Ellenbrook, Upper Swan	State Route 56 () northern terminus
Wanneroo	Gnangara	18.0	11.2	Cul-de-sac	Northern terminus of Alexander Drive at Lake Gnangara lookout point
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus Incomplete access

References

Northern 76 timetable Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Transperth, effective 30 May 2004. Accessed 2007-01-23
Department of Land Information. StreetSmart Perth Street Directory (54th ed.). West Australian Newspapers Ltd. pp. Map 342/372. ISBN 978-0-909439-67-5.
"PERTH ROAD BOARD". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 27 May 1932. p. 10. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
"GENERAL NEWS". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 10 August 1932. p. 11. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
"PERTH ROAD BOARD". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 28 September 1932. p. 14. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
^ "MT. LAWLEY IMPROVEMENTS". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 1 December 1939. p. 6. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
"Change of Name of Street – City of Stirling and Shire of Wanneroo (per 1036/71)". Western Australia Government Gazette. 16 March 1979. p. 1979:698.
"Landgate Map Viewer Plus". maps.landgate.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
Trenwith, Courtney (2 September 2012). "A 'bold' light rail system to 'transform' Perth revealed". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
O'Connor, Andrew (8 March 2015). "Move from rail to buses 'not a broken promise': Nalder". ABC News. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
O'Connor, Andrew (21 June 2016). "WA abandons light rail promise in long-term transport plan". ABC News. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2022.