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 Highway. Along its length are interchanges with several major roads, including the Graham Farmer Freeway and Reid Highway. The southern terminus of the Mitchell Freeway is at the Narrows Bridge, which crosses the Swan River, and the northern terminus is at Romeo Road in Alkimos.
Planning for the route began in the 1950s, and the first segment in central Perth was constructed between 1967 and 1973. Named after Sir James Mitchell, the freeway has been progressively extended north since then. In the 1970s, the first two extensions were completed, up to Hutton Street in Osborne Park. By the end of the 1980s, the freeway had reached Ocean Reef Road in Edgewater. The Yanchep line was constructed in the freeway median in the early 1990s. This necessitated the relocation of a section of the southbound carriageway, and the construction of three new bridges. In conjunction with these works, additional lanes were constructed in the realigned section.
Since the 1990s, extensions to the Mitchell Freeway have taken it to Romeo Road in Alkimos, which is the freeway's terminus as of July 2023. Further works are planned, which will eventually take the freeway past Yanchep and Two Rocks to the boundary of the Perth metropolitan region.
Route description
The Mitchell Freeway is the northern section of State Route 2. It commences at the northern end of the Narrows Bridge, Perth, continuing from Kwinana Freeway, and terminates north of the satellite city of Joondalup at Romeo Road, Alkimos. All intersections with the freeway are via grade separated interchanges. The speed limit is except in central Perth, where the limit is . South of Hepburn Avenue, the freeway has 3 to 5 lanes in each direction. From that point north, there are mostly two lanes in each direction, expanding to three lanes between Hodges Drive and Shenton Avenue. For much of its length the median strip of the freeway also houses the Yanchep line, with nine of the line's stations and the Nowergup depot built on the strip. Additionally, a shared pedestrian and bicycle path is built alongside most of the freeway.
Perth and West Perth
The section near the Perth city centre, within the City of Perth local government area (LGA), features many partial access interchanges. The Narrows Interchange is located just north of the Narrows Bridge, on the eastern edge of Kings Park. This is a hybrid interchange connecting the freeway with Mounts Bay Road and Riverside Drive, over a distance of . There is complete access to and from Mounts Bay Road via a standard northbound exit ramp and looped ramps for the other movements. There is a partial Y-interchange incorporated for direct access to and from Riverside Drive via a southbound exit ramp and a northbound entrance ramp. All other traffic movements must be made via Mounts Bay Road. The Riverside Drive entrance ramp merges with the Mounts Bay Road northbound entrance ramp. The southbound exit ramp is similarly shared, before diverging for three destinations: Mounts Bay Road, Riverside Drive, and the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre car park. The main northbound exit to Hay Street is via an access road, which begins on the Mounts Bay Road exit ramp. The access road rejoins the freeway as an outside lane on the shared Riverside Drive and Mounts Bay Road entrance ramp. The Hay Street exit ramp, a short distance later, can be accessed from the two outermost lanes. This allows the traffic entering the freeway from the ramp to continue north or exit at Hay Street without weaving.
The freeway continues north-westerly for , splitting Mount Street in half, and passing under Malcolm Street. After this, it turns north-easterly for , and lines up with the city blocks between George and Elder streets, a pair of one way frontage roads. The freeway also marks the boundary between Perth and West Perth. Partial access is provided to or from all the roads that the freeway crosses over or under. North of Roe Street, the freeway turns north-west towards Glendalough over the course of . In this section the freeway marks the boundary between the City of Perth and City of Vincent LGAs. There is a full Y-interchange here, the Hamilton Interchange, with the Graham Farmer Freeway, which bypasses the Perth city centre via a tunnel, and provides access to Perth Airport. Combined with this interchange is a partial Y-interchange with Charles Street. The southbound entrance ramp merges with, and northbound exit ramp diverges from, the Graham Farmer Freeway ramps. There is a traffic light controlled intersection with Newcastle Street at the northern end of these ramps. Charles Street is the start of State Route 60, an alternative route to Perth's northern suburbs and areas north of the Perth metropolitan region. Located in the vicinity of these interchanges are the Sutherland Street northbound entrance ramp, from West Perth, and a southbound exit ramp to both Roe Street, and Wellington Street, Perth. The Loftus Street overpass, near the northwestern end of the Graham Farmer Freeway ramps, is the edge of the City of Perth LGA; beyond this point the freeway is the boundary between West Leederville in the Town of Cambridge and Leederville in the City of Vincent.
Northern suburbs of Perth
In the northern suburbs of Perth, most of the interchanges are standard diamond interchanges, and the rest are modified versions, which have ramps missing or replaced with loop ramps. The first interchange north-west of West Perth, is with Vincent Street and Lake Monger Drive. This interchange has a looped southbound entry ramp, so that Leederville Parade can join to the south side of intersection with Vincent Street and the southbound ramps. The northbound exit ramp terminates at Southport Street, south of Vincent Street and Lake Monger Drive. The freeway then proceeds northwest for alongside Lake Monger's eastern edge, after which there is a half diamond interchange with Powis Street, with only a northbound exit ramp and a southbound entrance ramp. The freeway continues north, now within the City of Stirling LGA, through Osborne Park, until it reaches Hutton Street after . There are several local roads in Osborne Park that have T-Junction intersections with the freeway ramps south of Hutton Street. These are McDonald Street West and Hector Street West, with the northbound exit ramp; and Cape Street, Hector Street, and McDonald Street with southbound entry ramps. The freeway has a S-curve after Hutton Street, moving to an alignment further west that does not bisect any suburbs. The interchanges with Cedric Street on the S-curve, and Karrinyup Road at the end of the S-curve, are diamond interchanges. There are slight modifications to the entrance and exit ramps between these roads, which merge for , requiring traffic to weave. As of 2026, the Cedric Street intersection will be replaced by a diamond intersection with Stephenson Avenue. The curved section is the boundary between Stirling to the east of the freeway, and Osborne Park and Innaloo to the west.
The next interchange, after , is with Erindale Road. It is another half diamond interchange, with only northbound exit and southbound entrance ramps. Beyond Erindale Road, the suburb to the east of the freeway is Balcatta, and further north is Reid Highway, with the southbound and westbound-to-northbound entry ramps looped. Balcatta Road joins the intersection of the southbound ramps with Reid Highway. Reid Highway, together with Tonkin Highway, provides a limited-access route to Perth Airport. North of Reid Highway, the Mitchell Freeway divides Carine to west from Hamersley to the east. There is no access to the next major road, Beach Road. It forms the border between the City of Stirling and City of Joondalup LGAs; as well as between Carine and Duncraig west of the freeway, and Hamersley and Warwick to the east. Warwick Road's interchange is north of Reid Highway. It is a standard diamond interchange, but weaving is required between Reid Highway and Warwick Road due to the short distance between the interchanges. Greenwood is located north of Warwick Road and east of the freeway.
The following two interchanges, after and respectively, are with Hepburn Avenue and Whitfords Avenue. The Hepburn Avenue interchange is located at the corners of Duncraig, Greenwood, Kingsley, and Padbury; while the Whitfords Avenue interchange is located at the corner of Kingsley, Padbury, Cragie, and Woodvale. Each interchange also provides access for the railway stations in the median (Greenwood and Whitfords respectively) via the southbound entry ramps, which are two-way north of the carparks' entrances. North of here, over a distance of , are standard diamond interchanges with Ocean Reef Road, Hodges Drive, and Shenton Avenue, which provide access to Joondalup city centre, and Joondalup Health Campus, east of the freeway. West of the freeway are the suburbs of Heathridge, Connolly and Currambine. Edgewater station lies just to the north of the Ocean Reef Road interchange (road access via Joondalup Drive), with the railway deviating to the east from the median just south of Hodges Drive to stop at Joondalup station.
north of the Shenton Avenue interchange, the railway line re-enters the freeway median just prior to passing under Moore Drive. Both the freeway and railway then pass over Burns Beach Road, further north with the Currambine station lying to the south. The diamond interchange with Burns Beach Road is the northernmost fully signalised interchange on the freeway and lies at the corner of Currambine, Joondalup, Kinross and Neerabup. The next interchange, after , is with Neerabup Road and is a hybrid interchange where the western side is a teardrop roundabout common to dogbone interchanges while the eastern side is a full roundabout similar to a dumbbell interchange. The next interchange is reached north at Hester Avenue at a partial dogbone interchange.
After Hester Avenue, the northbound and southbound carriageways split and pass around the Nowergup railway depot before reaching the next interchange at Lukin Drive, after which the railway again deviates from the freeway median, this time to the west to continue on to Butler station and beyond to Yanchep. The next interchange is with Butler Boulevard, and later, the freeway terminates at Romeo Road. Access to areas further north is provided by Marmion Avenue to the west of the terminus or via Wanneroo Road to the east.
History
The Mitchell Freeway began as a highway proposed in the Metropolitan Region Scheme in the mid-1950s. The original plan took the route, then known as Yanchep Highway, inland from what is now known as Karrinyup Road to the intersection of Wanneroo Road and Balcatta Road. However, the first gazetted edition of the Metropolitan Region Scheme, from 1963, shows a controlled-access highway along the current freeway alignment. The later plan only detailed the route up until a point east of Sorrento, at a proposed east-west controlled-access highway on the modern day Hepburn Avenue alignment.