As part of State Route 3, it forms half of Perth's outer ring road along with Roe Highway, which it joins onto at its eastern terminus.

[2] The highway was further extended with the section between Mirrabooka Avenue and Wanneroo Road, which opened on 17 November 1994.

[2] The highway was finally made continuous on 6 September 1996 with the opening of the Erindale Road–Wanneroo Road segment.

[2] In 2001, the highway was extended west from Mitchell Freeway to Marmion Avenue as a two-lane divided carriageway, which opened on 30 July,[2] thus replacing a section of North Beach Road and making it discontinuous.

Reid Highway in Westminster (between Wanneroo Road and Mirrabooka Avenue) has no street lighting and has attracted both antisocial behaviour and a number of accidents.

[6] This intersection now includes Daviot Road as a southern continuation of Lord Street, which provides access to the suburb of Caversham.

[8] In December 2012, the State Government announced that the Malaga Drive intersection would be grade separated by 2014–15, with work commencing in 2013-14.

[12][13] The project aims to lower congestion, and reduce the volume of traffic using local roads to avoid the interchange.

[16] Part of the features included a bridge connecting the northern and southern sections of Arthur Street and a second right-turning bay from Reid Highway westbound to West Swan Road northbound.

In December 2019, funding was assigned for developing a project for full grade separation of the last remaining signalised intersection on the section between the Mitchell Freeway and Tonkin Highway, at Erindale Road.

The Mitchell Freeway interchange is a modified diamond interchange consisting of dual two-lane bridges over the freeway and railway line with two parclo cloverleaf loops serving the Reid-westbound to Mitchell-northbound traffic as well as that of the southbound entrance.

Alternative access will be required in the future, as Reid Highway is planned to be upgraded to a six lane freeway.