Graham Farmer Freeway is a inner-city freeway in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Western Australia. It links Rivervale and Burswood with West Perth and Leederville, providing an east-west bypass of Perth's central business district. The freeway, in conjunction with

Great Eastern Highway Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt and the Goldfields-Esperance, Goldfie ...

and Orrong Road, is also an important connection between the city centre and Perth Airport. It is allocated State Route 8, and was named in honour of the

Australian rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by ...

footballer, Graham "Polly" Farmer, who played between 1953 and 1971 in both the West Australian and Victorian Football Leagues.

Route description

Western terminus

The freeway's western terminus is a hybrid interchange, combining a

Full Y interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

with the

Mitchell Freeway The Mitchell Freeway is a freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of State Route 2, which continues south as Kwinana Freeway and Forrest Hig ...

, an exit to James Street, and an entrance ramp from and exit ramp to Loftus Street. The interchange also incorporates a partial Y interchange that connects Charles Street to the Mitchell Freeway. This is known as the ''Hamilton Interchange''.

Northbridge Tunnel

Immediately east of the interchange is the Northbridge Tunnel, Western Australia's only freeway tunnel. The tunnel has three traffic lanes in each direction, with an escape passageway between the carriageways. The tunnel is colloquially known as the "Polly Pipe", a reference not only to the freeway's namesake, but also to the colloquialism "Poly Pipe" in reference to plastic pipes (commonly made from

polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging (plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including ...

or polyvinyl chloride materials) used in reticulation and plumbing. Both tunnel portals feature public art installations. At the western end, there is a pictorial history of Northbridge, and at the eastern end, the

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

artist Ron Corbett created images based on indigenous artwork. The transportation of dangerous goods and explosives through the freeway tunnel is prohibited.

Perth City exits

At the eastern end of the tunnel is the diamond interchange with East Parade, which connects the freeway to East Perth. The East Parade exit ramps allow traffic movements to the opposite entrance ramp, as the westbound entrance ramp also connects to Lord Street, whilst the eastbound exit ramp merges with a ramp from Lord Street. This allows a connection between the city centre and the freeway, via Lord Street.

Windan Bridge

The freeway then crosses the Swan River over the , six lane Windan Bridge. The bridge is one of the more recent constructions of the 19 bridges that cross the river. It includes pedestrian and cycling access.

Burswood

Graham Farmer Freeway continues into Burswood as a six lane freeway. There is a diamond interchange with Victoria Park Drive for access to the adjacent

Belmont Park Racecourse Belmont Park Racecourse is one of the two major horse racing venues within the Perth, Western Australia metropolitan area, the other being Ascot Racecourse, and is located just outside of the central business district on the Burswood Peninsul ...

, and the nearby

Optus Stadium Perth Stadium, currently known as Optus Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Burswood. It was completed in late 2017 and officially opened on 21 January 2018. The s ...

and Crown Perth complex. The eastern terminus is a modified diamond interchange with

, that includes a looped ramp for the south-westbound to north-eastbound traffic movement. The freeway continues south-east as Orrong Road, an arterial road that is also part of State Route 8.

History

Graham Farmer Freeway was constructed between 1996 and 2000, and used over 180,000 cubic metres of concrete. The project finished three months early and within budget, costing $313 million. It has been designed to have a 150-year lifespan, following the Main Roads Western Australia specification. Stage 1 involved construction of the tunnel and was undertaken by a Clough/ Baulderstone Hornibrook joint venture, was a finalist for the 2001 Australian Construction Achievement Award. Stage 2 included the Windan Bridge, and nine other traffic and pedestrian bridge structures. This stage won an award from Austroads, the Association of Australian and New Zealand Road Transport and Traffic Authorities.

2013 tunnel expansion

During several weekend closures in April 2013, the existing breakdown shoulders were removed to accommodate an extra lane of traffic in each direction, without modifying the tunnel's structure. The removal of the breakdown lanes was criticised by the state Opposition, and the

RAC RAC or Rac may refer to: Organizations * Radio Amateurs of Canada * RATCH-Australia Corporation, electricity generator * Refugee Action Collective (Victoria), Melbourne, Australia * Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, US * Rent-A-Center, ...

raised concerns about emergency response times. As part of the upgrade, Main Roads Western Australia implemented an incident response plan, including a dedicated towing service, and the fire control and ventilation systems were upgraded. The new eastbound lane opened on 16 April, a day after it was originally scheduled to open, due to delays in commissioning the new lane use management system. The third westbound lane opened on 29 April, as scheduled. The works were designed to improve the traffic flow in the Perth CBD, which was affected by construction projects such as the development of Elizabeth Quay.

Exits and interchanges

Notes and references

{{WA road routes , route=State Route 8 , shield={{AUshield, S, 8, size=x18px , roads={{WA road routes/R, 8 Highways and freeways in Perth, Western Australia Tunnels in Western Australia Tunnels completed in 2000 Articles containing video clips Road tunnels in Australia