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Western Highway (Victoria)
Western Highway is a major arterial route in western Victoria with a length of approximately 258 kilometres (160 mi) of single carriageway, then 161 kilometres (100 mi) of dual carriageway known as Western Freeway, linking the western suburbs of Melbourne to the border with South Australia at Serviceton. It is the Victorian part of the principal route linking the Australian cities of Melbourne and Adelaide, and is a part of the National Highway network, designated routes A8 and M8. The western end continues into South Australia as Dukes Highway, the next section of the Melbourne–Adelaide National Highway.
Western Highway is the second-busiest national highway in Australia, in terms of freight movements, with over five million tonnes annually, and provides the link between the eastern seaboard and South Australia and Western Australia.
Western Highway commences at the state border with South Australia as a continuation of Dukes Highway at Victoria and heads in a south-easterly direction as a two-lane, single carriageway rural highway with numerous overtaking lanes and passes through the agricultural centres of Nhill, Horsham, Stawell and Ararat. Just west of Buangor, Western Highway becomes Western Freeway and widens to a four-lane, dual-carriageway road, and begins bypassing most of the towns the old alignment of the highway used to serve, passing Ballarat, Ballan and Bacchus Marsh, before reaching the western fringes of suburban Melbourne outside Melton; major intersecting roads are grade-separated, however there remain minor intersections at-grade, and cycling is permitted on the sealed shoulder along most of the freeway. The freeway continues through the suburbs of Rockbank and Ravenhall, before eventually terminating at the interchange with Western Ring Road in Derrimut.
Plans are underway for the end of this freeway to be extended from the current terminus just after the Buangor bypass westward towards and eventually to Stawell.
The passing of the Country Roads Act of 1912 through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the establishment of the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads) and their ability to declare Main Roads, taking responsibility for the management, construction and care of the state's major roads from local municipalities. (Main) Ballarat Road was declared a Main Road, from Footscray via Braybrook to Melton on 30 December 1913, and from Melton via Bacchus Marsh, Ballan and Bungaree to Ballarat East on 24 August 1914; Horsham (-Dimboola) Road from Horsham to Dimboola, (Dimboola-) Nhill Road between Dimboola and Nhill and Nhill-Kaniva-Border Road between Nhill through Kaniva to the South Australian border, were declared as Main Roads on 17 March 1915; Ballarat-(Ararat-)Stawell Road between Ballarat West through Beaufort and Ararat to Stawell was declared a Main Road on 31 May 1915.
The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924 provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board. Western Highway was declared a State Highway on 1 July 1925, cobbled from a collection of roads from Melbourne through Ballarat, Ararat, Stawell, Horsham, and Dimboola to the interstate border at Serviceton (for a total of 244 miles), subsuming the original declarations of Main Ballarat Road, Ballarat-Stawell Road, Horsham-Dimboola Road, Dimboola-Nhill Road, and Nhill-Kaniva-Border Road as Main Roads. Western By-pass Road was opened in 1969 through Pykes Creek Reservoir, but this was being referred to as Western Freeway by the time the Gordon and Bacchus Marsh bypasses were completed in 1972.
The Whitlam government introduced the federal National Roads Act 1974, where roads declared as a National Highway were still the responsibility of the states for road construction and maintenance, but were fully compensated by the Federal government for money spent on approved projects. As an important interstate link between the capitals of Victoria and South Australia, Western Highway was declared a National Highway in 1974.
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Western Highway (Arterial #6520) between the border with South Australia at Serviceton and Buangor, and as Western Freeway (Freeway #1520) between Buangor and Western Ring Road, Derrimut.
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Western Highway (Victoria)
Western Highway is a major arterial route in western Victoria with a length of approximately 258 kilometres (160 mi) of single carriageway, then 161 kilometres (100 mi) of dual carriageway known as Western Freeway, linking the western suburbs of Melbourne to the border with South Australia at Serviceton. It is the Victorian part of the principal route linking the Australian cities of Melbourne and Adelaide, and is a part of the National Highway network, designated routes A8 and M8. The western end continues into South Australia as Dukes Highway, the next section of the Melbourne–Adelaide National Highway.
Western Highway is the second-busiest national highway in Australia, in terms of freight movements, with over five million tonnes annually, and provides the link between the eastern seaboard and South Australia and Western Australia.
Western Highway commences at the state border with South Australia as a continuation of Dukes Highway at Victoria and heads in a south-easterly direction as a two-lane, single carriageway rural highway with numerous overtaking lanes and passes through the agricultural centres of Nhill, Horsham, Stawell and Ararat. Just west of Buangor, Western Highway becomes Western Freeway and widens to a four-lane, dual-carriageway road, and begins bypassing most of the towns the old alignment of the highway used to serve, passing Ballarat, Ballan and Bacchus Marsh, before reaching the western fringes of suburban Melbourne outside Melton; major intersecting roads are grade-separated, however there remain minor intersections at-grade, and cycling is permitted on the sealed shoulder along most of the freeway. The freeway continues through the suburbs of Rockbank and Ravenhall, before eventually terminating at the interchange with Western Ring Road in Derrimut.
Plans are underway for the end of this freeway to be extended from the current terminus just after the Buangor bypass westward towards and eventually to Stawell.
The passing of the Country Roads Act of 1912 through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the establishment of the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads) and their ability to declare Main Roads, taking responsibility for the management, construction and care of the state's major roads from local municipalities. (Main) Ballarat Road was declared a Main Road, from Footscray via Braybrook to Melton on 30 December 1913, and from Melton via Bacchus Marsh, Ballan and Bungaree to Ballarat East on 24 August 1914; Horsham (-Dimboola) Road from Horsham to Dimboola, (Dimboola-) Nhill Road between Dimboola and Nhill and Nhill-Kaniva-Border Road between Nhill through Kaniva to the South Australian border, were declared as Main Roads on 17 March 1915; Ballarat-(Ararat-)Stawell Road between Ballarat West through Beaufort and Ararat to Stawell was declared a Main Road on 31 May 1915.
The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924 provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board. Western Highway was declared a State Highway on 1 July 1925, cobbled from a collection of roads from Melbourne through Ballarat, Ararat, Stawell, Horsham, and Dimboola to the interstate border at Serviceton (for a total of 244 miles), subsuming the original declarations of Main Ballarat Road, Ballarat-Stawell Road, Horsham-Dimboola Road, Dimboola-Nhill Road, and Nhill-Kaniva-Border Road as Main Roads. Western By-pass Road was opened in 1969 through Pykes Creek Reservoir, but this was being referred to as Western Freeway by the time the Gordon and Bacchus Marsh bypasses were completed in 1972.
The Whitlam government introduced the federal National Roads Act 1974, where roads declared as a National Highway were still the responsibility of the states for road construction and maintenance, but were fully compensated by the Federal government for money spent on approved projects. As an important interstate link between the capitals of Victoria and South Australia, Western Highway was declared a National Highway in 1974.
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Western Highway (Arterial #6520) between the border with South Australia at Serviceton and Buangor, and as Western Freeway (Freeway #1520) between Buangor and Western Ring Road, Derrimut.