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Border welcome sign at the WA-SA border at Eucla / Border Village. The building behind the sign is the border quarantine inspection station. Image © Kate Pilling.

You've arrived at the road photos and information section that covers Western Australia.

European settlement didn't officially take place in Western Australia until 1826, and on 1 January 1901, Western Australia joined the other Australian states to form a federation.1

Western Australia covers an area of 2,645,615 square kilometres and the total Western Australian road network is 174,008 kilometres in length and Main Roads is Western Australia's State road authority is directly responsible for 17,706 kilometres or about 10 percent. 2

Below are the various road types that this site has photos of. In Western Australia, routes are either numbered or not. The numbering system consists of State Routes, National Highways, National Routes and Tourist Drives. Street directory references in the Western Australian section refer to the 2008 Perth Street Smart street directory. It's published by the West Australian Newspaper in conjunction with the WA state government department, Landgate. ISBN 978-1-921048-19-7.

				Decommissioned
National Highways	National Routes	State Routes	Tourist Drives & Ways	Decommissioned Routes
The green and gold route markers indicate routes which are part of the National Highway System. They indicate the most direct routes between Perth-Adelaide and Perth-Darwin. 3	The black on white markers indicate highways around Australia which are not part of the National Highway System but are still of some national signifcance.	The white on blue shields indicate main urban and interregional routes. They are the signs which will most commonly be seen in urban areas. 3	The white on brown Tourist Drive and Tourist Way markers denote roads through areas of significant scenic or historic interest. 3	Routes that were once numbered, but are now not, perhaps due to alignment changes or the importance of a route has diminished.

Western Australian Route Numbering Explained: 3

A route numbering system has been established within Western Australia to simplify navigation for drivers in both the urban and country areas, and to aid tourists in search of particularly scenic routes. Each route has a unique number and is identified by distinctive markers placed on existing direction signs or on steel posts strategically placed along the route as a guide to motorists.

This comprehensive State Route system consists of both metropolitan and inter-regional routes. There are 49 State Routes in the metropolitan area and 17 in the rural area. Five of the inter-regional routes originate from the metropolitan area.

A State Tourist Drive system has been introduced for drives of significant scenic or historic interest. Eight drives have been signed in the metropolitan area and nineteen drives are in rural areas.

1 Tourism Western Australia
2 Main Roads Western Australia and Geoscience Australia
3 Main Roads Western Australia

Last updated: 22-Jan-2019 13:03

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