The Challenge

The Gateway WA Perth Airport and Freight Access Project is the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken by Main Roads WA.

This billion-dollar project involves a major upgrade to the road network surrounding Perth Airport and the freight and industrial hubs of Kewdale and Forrestfield. It focuses primarily on Tonkin Highway, between Great Eastern Highway and Roe Highway, and Leach Highway, between Orrong Road and Perth Airport.

The need for this project has been driven by the expected doubling of passenger air travel and the road freight task over the next decade, coupled with proposed consolidation of the Perth airport terminals.

The Gateway WA Project is a national infrastructure priority driven by the expected doubling of the freight task and passenger air travel between now and 2031. Infrastructure Australia identifies the Gateway WA project as a nationally significant project under its Competitive International Gateways goal to improve Australia’s trade performance.

Our Approach to Delivery

The design for Gateway WA is being delivered primarily by an integrated Alliance design team comprising AECOM and other industry design leaders. The work is ambitious in scope and technically challenging, requiring a large multidisciplinary team for delivery. It is one of the largest and most complex transport projects ever attempted in Western Australia and will ultimately cater to a future Perth population of 3.5 million and an airport capable of conveying 40 million passenger movements per year.

The design complies with Main Roads WA design philosophies and standards and Australian Standards and Austroads Guidelines.

The innovative and visionary design includes the following key elements:

  • Upgrade of Tonkin Highway between Great Eastern Highway and Roe Highway
  • Upgrade of Leach Highway between Orrong Road and Tonkin Highway to include a new access road to Perth Airport
  • Major freeway to freeway interchanges at Leach Highway / Tonkin Highway and Tonkin Highway / Roe Highway
  • Two new Single Point Interchanges at Leach Highway/ Abernethy Road and Tonkin Highway / Horrie Miller Drive / Kewdale Road. These elements have never been constructed before in Western Australia.
  • New diamond interchange at Tonkin Highway / Boud Avenue
  • Kewdale Road Network Upgrades and other local network upgrades
  • Managed Motorways and Intelligent Transport Solutions (ITS) for the network to 2031 and beyond

The bridges on the Gateway WA project incorporate innovations to enhance the urban design outcomes and reduce the impact of piers and deck thicknesses. Bridge decks incorporate precast beams and girders made fully continuous in order to reduce the depth of the deck structure, in situ diaphragms are concealed within the deck structure to span between piers and reduce the number of pier structures required. Bridge parapet profiles and termination details have been carefully considered to provide a unique and distinctive theme to the project. Extensive use of precast elements reduced construction time and limited the use of falsework thus reducing the impact of the works on the travelling public.