Roe Street, Perth

Roe Street is a street in Perth, Western Australia. The central section of the street forms the southern boundary of the suburb of Northbridge, while the eastern end borders the Perth Cultural Centre to the north and Perth railway station to the south. The southern approach of the Hamilton Interchange, which connects the Mitchell Freeway and the Graham Farmer Freeway, passes over the street to the west.

Roe Street, Perth Western Australia
General information
Type	Road
Length	1.6 km (1.0 mi)[1]
Major junctions
West end	Sutherland Street, West Perth Railway Street, West Perth
	Mitchell Freeway (State Route 2) Fitzgerald Street William Street (State Route 53) Beaufort Street (State Route 53)
East end	Stirling Street, Perth
Location(s)
LGA(s)	City of Perth
Major suburbs	Northbridge, Perth

Immediately south of Roe Street was the former site of the railway marshalling yards that were originally to the west of Perth station; in the 2010s the Perth City Link project sunk and covered the remaining parts of the railway south of Northbridge and opened up the area for redevelopment.

History

The road had a number of factories located on the street; examples include the Michelides Tobacco Factory and a factory for Peters Ice Cream.^[2] For a considerable length of time in the twentieth century it was also associated in the popular imagination in Western Australia as the location of brothels in Perth.^[3][4][5][6] Dubbed "Rue-de-Roe" by the press, fences were eventually erected along the rail line to shield the public from the view of the brothels on the street.^[7] Because of the changes in the regulation of prostitution in the state, the brothels have long since gone,^[8] and were replaced with other developments. A small section of the street serves as the southern boundary of Perth's Chinatown and features Asian-style street theming.

In the 2010s the Perth City Link project removed the vestiges of the railway yard and sunk and covered the Fremantle railway line, creating a large space for redevelopment of the area to the immediate south of the street.^[9][10] Between January 2014 and July 2016, the Roe Street bus station operated near Perth station to facilitate the construction of the Perth Busport at the former Wellington Street bus station site.

In December 2016, a new exit onto the street from the southbound direction of the Mitchell Freeway opened. The exit replaced a previous one on James Street, which was closed to enable the construction of the Charles Street Bus Bridge.^[11]

In June 2021, work began on revitalising a significant portion of the street to make it more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.^[12]

Intersections

LGA	Location[1]	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Perth	West Perth	0	0.0	Sutherland Street / Railway Street	Traffic light intersection; Roe Street continues west as Railway Street
	West Perth–Northbridge–Perth tripoint	0.35	0.22	Mitchell Freeway (State Route 2)	Traffic light intersection; exit from freeway southbound to Roe Street only
	Northbridge–Perth boundary	0.45	0.28	Fitzgerald Street	Traffic light intersection
		0.75	0.47	Melbourne Street	Traffic light intersection
		0.9	0.56	Lake Street / King Street	Traffic light intersection
		1.2	0.75	William Street (State Route 53)	Traffic light intersection
	Perth	1.5	0.93	Beaufort Street (State Route 53)	Traffic light intersection; no turning from Beaufort Street to Roe Street eastbound
		1.6	0.99	Stirling Street	Roe Street continues north as Stirling Street
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access

References

1. "Roe Street". Google Maps. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
2. Jones Lang Wootton (1985), For sale : superb city redevelopment site Roe Street Northbridge, retrieved 5 March 2017
3. Bingley, A. N. (Albert Norris) (1992), On the game, A. Bingley, ISBN 978-0-9593594-1-1
4. McKewon, Elaine (2003), The historical geography of prostitution in Perth, Western Australia [Photocopy], Australian Geographe, retrieved 5 March 2017
5. Davidson, Raelene (1984), "'As good a bloody women as any other bloody woman ...': prostitutes in Western Australia, 1895/ 1939", Exploring Women's Past: Essays in Social History (1984): 171–206, retrieved 5 March 2017
6. Honey; Harvey, Erica (1994), [Interview with Honey, Prostitute], retrieved 5 March 2017
7. Wynne, Emma, Red lights on Roe street – part of Perth's history we did not want to see, retrieved 27 August 2021
8. Red light area, Roe Street, Perth, just before the brothels closed, 1958, retrieved 5 March 2017
9. Western Australia. East Perth Redevelopment Authority (2008), The Link masterplan, retrieved 5 March 2017
10. Western Australia. East Perth Redevelopment Authority (2008), The Link, retrieved 5 March 2017
11. Marmion, Bill (14 December 2016). "Charles Street Bus Bridge project major milestone". Media Statements. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
12. Roe Street transformation to revitalise the CBD, 1 June 2021, archived from the original on 2 June 2021, retrieved 1 June 2021