Forrest Highway is a 95-kilometre-long (59 mi) highway in Western Australia's Peel and South West regions, extending Perth's Kwinana Freeway from east of Mandurah down to Bunbury. Old Coast Road was the original Mandurah–Bunbury route, dating back to the 1840s. Part of that road, and the Australind Bypass around Australind and Eaton, were subsumed by Forrest Highway. The highway begins at Kwinana Freeway's southern terminus in Ravenswood, continues around the Peel Inlet to Lake Clifton, and heads south to finish at Bunbury's Eelup Roundabout. There are a number of at-grade intersections with minor roads in the shires of Murray, Waroona, and Harvey including Greenlands Road and Old Bunbury Road, both of which connect to South Western Highway near Pinjarra.
1840 depiction of Koombana Bay, Port Leschenault. Settlement around this area prompted the first real need for a good quality road.
The track of Old Coast Road in 1920
An arch of paperbarks over Old Coast Road in 1936
Plaque commemorating the opening of the new Mandurah bridge
The Kwinana Freeway is a 72-kilometre (45 mi) freeway in and beyond the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with Mandurah to the south. It is the central section of State Route 2, which continues north as Mitchell Freeway to Clarkson, and south as Forrest Highway towards Bunbury. A 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) section between Canning and Leach highways is also part of National Route 1. Along its route are interchanges with several major roads, including Roe Highway and Mandjoogoordap Drive. The northern terminus of the Kwinana Freeway is at the Narrows Bridge, which crosses the Swan River, and the southern terminus is at Pinjarra Road, east of Mandurah.
Kwinana Freeway in South Perth, as seen from Kings Park
The same view facing south at Cockburn in September 2019. Note the additional lane in the southbound carriageway with the northbound carriageway in the process of being widened
View of the Narrows Bridge, 1968. The first section of the Kwinana Freeway is visible in the background.
Mount Henry Bridge crossing the Canning River