Following the Western Australian gold rushes of the 1890s, a track developed between Coolgardie and Esperance, the closest harbour to the goldfields. A road was constructed along this track in the late 1920s and 1930s. From the late 1930s attention turned to sealing the road, but it took until 1960 before a single-lane seal was constructed between Coolgardie and Esperance. The road was gazetted as Coolgardie–Esperance Highway three years earlier, on 16 August 1957. Further work occurred between 1974 and 1980, providing a two-lane sealed road for the length of the highway.