Main Roads Western Australia says the planning and development phase of Orrong Connect has concluded. The community deliberative panel has delivered its final report, but the agency’s current project information does not disclose the report’s detailed recommendations or confirm a construction funding decision or schedule.
What is happening with Orrong Connect?
Orrong Connect is Main Roads Western Australia’s planning study for the future development of the Orrong Road transport corridor. Main Roads says the planning and development phase has concluded and that feedback and findings from the process will continue to inform future planning. Main Roads’ current Orrong Connect page also confirms that panel members delivered their final report to the agency.
The report’s detailed recommendations are not set out in the current project information reviewed here. Main Roads says the study’s findings will inform future planning and a future business case; the available information does not establish that a preferred option has been selected, construction funding approved, or construction scheduled.
What did the community panel do?
Formed in 2024, the deliberative panel was asked to set a vision and provide advice and rationale for the sustainable future development of Orrong Road. Main Roads says the panel completed four all-day sessions between November 2024 and March 2025. Its final session took place on March 29, when members delivered their report to Main Roads. The preceding sessions and final session were independently facilitated.
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Main Roads describes deliberative panels as involving mostly randomly recruited community members, with some recruited through an expression-of-interest process. Its project page says panels typically use an 80% supermajority model; that general description does not establish the decision rule used by this panel.
Why is Orrong Road being studied?
The corridor serves local journeys as well as connections to Perth Airport, the south-eastern suburbs, Perth Hills, Welshpool and Kewdale. Main Roads reports that around 65,000 vehicles, or 85,000 people, travel each day on the section between Great Eastern Highway and Leach Highway. These are agency figures published on the current project page.
Main Roads identifies congestion and safety as planning concerns. Its About Orrong Connect page puts congestion’s annual lost-productivity cost along Orrong Road and Graham Farmer Freeway at up to $65.7 million. The agency’s project resources and FAQ page reports more than 40 crashes leading to serious injury on this Orrong Road section between 2018 and 2022.
Does the 2019 lowered-expressway proposal still apply?
Not as a confirmed current preferred outcome. Main Roads’ 2019 planning study proposed a lowered expressway between Leach Highway and Great Eastern Highway. The concept aimed to let through traffic move without signalised intersections, while retaining local connections on surface roads crossing above the expressway at designated intersections. Main Roads said separating regional and local traffic could improve safety, but the concept also involved impacts to adjacent properties. The Western Australian Planning Commission supported the concept, and a Planning Control Area was established to protect the proposed corridor.
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Orrong Connect subsequently asked the panel to explore different options before an agreed concept design. Main Roads identified heritage, place, environment, transport technology and innovation, economic costs and benefits, and sustainability among the matters for consideration. The 2019 proposal is background to that work, not evidence that the panel selected it.
What feedback did participants give?
Main Roads’ November 2024 project update reported that 46% of respondents identified access for vehicles crossing Orrong Road as the second most important issue. The same update said 30% of respondents wanted to shift to active travel, such as walking or cycling, or public transport in future, while 19% might consider doing so. These are responses to project engagement, not population-wide estimates.
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In that update, Main Roads counted 530 people who marked reduced congestion as highly desirable and 471 who marked improved safety as highly desirable. It also reported 170 visitors across four pop-up sessions and almost 2,000 visits to the MySayTransport project website. Project Director David Goodram said: “Feedback from the community gathered during the broad engagement will also be analysed and considered.”
A separate November 2024 Community Engagement Snapshot summarizes input from pop-up stalls, an online ideas board and an online map. The themes included safer access from local roads, vehicle access and intersections, cyclist access and safety, congestion, connectivity and improved safety. These comments describe engagement feedback; they should not be treated as a representative survey of all corridor users.
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What comes next?
Main Roads says the study findings will inform future planning and a future business case. Earlier project updates described a planned process in which the panel’s recommendation and advice from stakeholder agencies would be considered by a Project Steering Committee to determine an option for further development and a business case for delivery funding. Those updates described intended steps in 2024; the current project page does not confirm the outcome of a later funding or construction decision.
For construction planning, the key distinction is between completing a planning phase and approving a project for delivery. Main Roads has confirmed the former and receipt of the panel report. The official material cited above does not confirm the latter or provide a construction timetable.
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