Ballarat Road

Road in Melbourne, Victoria

See also: Western Highway, Victoria

Ballarat Road

Victoria

Ballarat Road, Ravenhall

West end

East end

Coordinates|

* 37°45′12″S 144°43′51″E﻿ / ﻿37.753196°S 144.730886°E﻿ / -37.753196; 144.730886 (West end)
* 37°47′42″S 144°54′46″E﻿ / ﻿37.795078°S 144.912801°E﻿ / -37.795078; 144.912801 (East end)

General information
Type| Road
Length| 16 km (9.9 mi)[3]
Gazetted| December 1913 (as Main Road)[1]
July 1925 (as State Highway)[2]
Route number(s)|  Metro Route 8 (2009–present)
(Ravenhall–Footscray)
Former
route number|

* National Highway M8 (1997–2009)
* National Highway 8 (1974–1997)
(Ravenhall–Ardeer)
* National Highway 8 (1974–2009)
(Ardeer–Footscray)
* National Route 8 (1955–1974)
Entire route

Major junctions
West end|  Western Freeway
Ravenhall, Melbourne

* Western Ring Road
* Geelong Road

East end|  Smithfield Road
Footscray, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbs| Caroline Springs, Deer Park, Albion, Sunshine, Braybrook

Ballarat Road is a major urban arterial road in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

## Route

[edit]

Ballarat Road commences at the interchange with Western Freeway at Ravenhall and continues in a south-easterly direction as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road through the suburbs of Deer Park, where it meets with Western Ring Road in Ardeer. It continues in an easterly direction to Maidstone, where it narrows to a four-lane, single carriageway road, and continues in a south-easterly direction to Footscray, where it widens again to a dual-carriageway road at the intersection with Geelong Road. It continues east before crossing the Maribyrnong River over Lynchs Bridge, where it changes name to Smithfield Road (and continues onto Flemington). VicRoads' declaration states Ballarat Road ends at the intersection with Geelong Road, however signposts still indicate the road ends at Lynch's Bridge across the Maribyrnong.

## History

[edit]

The passing of the Country Roads Act of 1912[4] 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, from Melton via Braybrook to Melton, was declared a Main Road on 30 December 1913.[1]

The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924[5] 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,[2]cobbled from a collection of roads from Melbourne through to Ballarat, subsuming the original declaration of Main Ballarat Road as a Main Road.

The Whitlam government introduced the federal National Roads Act 1974,[6] 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.[6]: S7 As an important interstate link between the capitals of Victoria and South Australia, Western Highway was declared a National Highway in 1974.[7]

This section of the road was eventually bypassed as the main route through western Melbourne when Deer Park bypass opened in 2009, with the road name devolving back to its original identity as Ballarat Road as a consequence; the route is still co-signed as Western Highway on older signs however.

As part of Western Highway, the road was signed as National Route 8 in 1955, then as National Highway 8 when upgraded to a National Highway in 1974. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, the section between Ravenhall and Ardeer (where it met the Western Ring Road) was upgraded to National Highway M8; it was left as National Highway 8 east of the ring road along its original alignment into central Melbourne. Once the Deer Park bypass was opened in 2009 and National Route M8 was re-routed onto the new bypass, the old route was replaced with Metropolitan Route 8 from Ravenhall to the inner suburb of Footscray.

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004[8] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads declared this road as Footscray-Caroline Springs Road (Arterial #5520), beginning in Footscray and ending in Ravenhall;[9] the road is still presently known (and signposted) as Ballarat Road.

## Transport

[edit]

Tram route 82 runs along the Footscray section of Ballarat Road, between Gordon & Droop Streets. The Serviceton railway line from Southern Cross runs parallel to Ballarat Road from Sunshine about 1 km to the south, with stations at Albion, and Deer Park. Several bus routes run along Ballarat Road at various points (routes 215, 216, 220, 223, 256, 400, 406, 408, 410 and 456) with 456 continuing on the Western Freeway to Melton.

With three lanes running in each direction, between Deer Park and the Western Ring Road, this was one of the worst bottlenecks in western Melbourne with traffic reaching 70,000 vehicles per day, with 10 per cent of this consisting of heavy vehicles. This caused delays, in part due to seven traffic signals between the Western Ring Road and the start of the Western Freeway. With the completion of the Deer Park Bypass traffic volumes were predicted to decrease to local traffic standard since its opening on 5 April 2009.[citation needed]

In central Melbourne, Ballarat Road has a single carriageway from Braybrook and is a two lane arterial road, including one small stretch which shares the road with trams.[10]

## Major intersections and suburbs

[edit]

LGA| Location[3][9]| km[3]| mi| Destinations| Notes

|
|
|
|
|

Melton| Ravenhall| 0.0| 0.0|  Western Freeway (M8 west) – Melton, Ballarat, Horsham, Adelaide| Westbound exit and eastbound entrance ramps only
Western terminus of Metro Route 8
Ravenhall–Caroline Springs boundary| 0.9| 0.56| Caroline Springs Boulevard (north) – Caroline Springs
Christies Road (south), to  Western Freeway (M8 east) – City|
Ravenhall–Burnside boundary| 2.4| 1.5| Westwood Drive – Hoppers Crossing, Burnside|
Brimbank| Deer Park| 4.4| 2.7|  Station Road (Metro Route 40) – Laverton, Taylors Lakes|
Kororoit Creek| 5.4| 3.4| Bridge over river (bridge name unknown)
Brimbank| Deer Park–Ardeer–Cairnlea tripoint| 6.2| 3.9|  Western Ring Road (M80 northeast, M80/Tourist Drive 21 southwest) – Geelong, Adelaide, Seymour, Sydney|
Albion| 8.9| 5.5| Bendigo railway line
Sunshine| 9.3| 5.8| St Albans Road (northwest) – St Albans
McIntyre Road (Metro Route 41 north) – Taylors Lakes, Keilor Downs
Anderson Road (Metro Route 41 south) – Sunshine, Brooklyn|
Sunshine–Sunshine North–Braybrook tripoint| 11.0| 6.8| Duke Street – Braybrook, Sunshine North|
Maribyrnong| Braybrook| 12.6| 7.8| Ashley Street – Tottenham, Yarraville|
Maidstone| 12.9| 8.0|  Churchill Avenue (Metro Routes 38/39) – Braybrook, Maribyrnong|
Maidstone–Footscray boundary| 14.3| 8.9| Rosamond Road (north) – Maribyrnong
Summerhill Road (south) – West Footscray|
Footscray| 15.0| 9.3|  Gordon Street (Metro Route 37) – Williamstown, Essendon|
15.3| 9.5| Droop Street – Footscray|
15.4| 9.6| Farnsworth Avenue – Ascot Vale|
16.0| 9.9|  Geelong Road (Metro Route 83) – Werribee, Geelong| Eastern terminus of Metro Route 8, Metro Route 83 continues east
16.5| 10.3|  Moore Street (Metro Route 35) – Footscray| Western concurrency terminus with Metro Route 35
Maribyrnong River| 17.3| 10.7| Lynchs Bridge
Melbourne| Flemington| 16.5| 10.3|  Smithfield Road (Metro Routes 35/83) – Flemington, City| Metro Routes 35/83 continue east along Smithfield Road

* Concurrency terminus
* Incomplete access
* Route transition

## See also

[edit]

* Australian Roads portal

* Western Highway

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 28 January 1914. p. 320. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
2. ^ a b "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twelfth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1925". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 31 December 1925. p. 3.
3. ^ a b c "Ballarat Road" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
4. ^ An Act relating to Country Roads State of Victoria, 23 December 1912
5. ^ An Act to make further provision with respect to Highways and Country Roads Motor Cars and Traction Engines and for other purposes State of Victoria, 30 December 1924
6. ^ a b National Roads Act 1974 (Cth)
7. ^ "Country Roads Board Victoria. Sixty-Second Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1975". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 3 November 1975. p. 26.
8. ^ State Government of Victoria. "Road Management Act 2004" (PDF). Government of Victoria. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
9. ^ a b VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A)" (PDF). Government of Victoria. pp. 556–7. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
10. ^ "Droop St/Ballarat Rd · Footscray VIC 3011". Droop St/Ballarat Rd · Footscray VIC 3011. Retrieved 4 October 2021.

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*     * Mornington Peninsula Freeway
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*     * Calder Freeway
*     * M80 Ring Road
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Highways/Primary Arterial Roads|

*     * Plenty Road
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*     * Maroondah Highway
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*     * Western Port Highway

* Alexandra Parade
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* Bell Street / Springvale Road
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Secondary/Other Arterial Roads|

*     * Fitzsimons Lane
*     * Hallam Road

* Airport Drive
* Ballarat Road
* Burke Road
* Boronia Road
* Canterbury Road
* Chandler Highway
* Clayton Road / Middleborough Road
* Craigieburn Road
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* Dorset Road
* Epping Road
* Flemington Road
* Glenferrie Road
* Heidelberg Road
* Koo Wee Rup Bypass
* Maribyrnong Road
* Melton Highway
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* Mountain Highway
* Mount Alexander Road
* Pascoe Vale Road
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* Sydney Road
* Thompson Road
* Westall Road
* Yan Yean Road

Bridges and tunnels|

* Bolte Bridge
* Burnley Tunnel
* Charles Grimes Bridge
* Domain Tunnel
* King Street Bridge
* Melba Tunnel
* Mullum Mullum Tunnel
* West Gate Bridge

Proposals|

* 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan
* Dingley Arterial (partially completed)
* East West Link
* Healesville Freeway
* Mornington Peninsula Freeway (southern extension)
* North East Link (under construction)
* Outer Ring Road
* West Gate Tunnel (under construction)
* West Gate Distributor

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