Indian Ocean Drive Western Australia |
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View south towards Leeman, 2014. | |
Type | Rural road |
Opened | 2010 |
Route number(s) | State Route 60 |
South end | Lancelin |
North end | Dongara |
Major settlements | Cervantes, Jurien Bay |
Indian Ocean Drive is a coastal road in the Australian state of Western Australia which links Lancelin with the Brand Highway, just south of Dongara.
On 26 September 2010 the final section of 65 kilometres (40 mi) of sealed road from north of Lancelin to the old Pinnacles Desert Drive, approximately 10 km south of Cervantes, was opened. The section was completed at a cost of $95 million. On completion of the extension, State Route 60 was extended along the length of the road.
The new road provides travellers between Perth and Geraldton a 30-minute shorter and more scenic route than the inland Brand Highway. The Brand highway will continue to service heavy traffic.
In December 2010, the state's Geographic Names Committee, on behalf of the Shire of Gingin, requested that the City of Wanneroo rename the northern section of Wanneroo Road to Indian Ocean Drive. A motion was put forward at the 14 December 2010 council meeting to rename the section from Yanchep Beach Road north to the intersection of Gingin Brook Road renamed, reasoning that terminating Wanneroo Road at Yanchep National Park would "be good for tourism". However, Mayor Jon Kelly considered the proposal a "futile and worthless exercise that was tantamount to heresy". Other councillors called it "offensive to the pioneers" of Wanneroo, and wished to retain the name Wanneroo in the area's only main road. An alternative motion stating that the council "does not agree" to renaming the road was passed instead.