Docklands Highway

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Docklands Highway

(numerous constituent roads)

Victoria

Looking west along Wurundjeri Way towards the Charles Grimes Bridge, Docklands

West end

East end

Coordinates|

* 37°49′00″S 144°51′00″E﻿ / ﻿37.816605°S 144.850082°E﻿ / -37.816605; 144.850082 (West end)
* 37°49′35″S 144°56′50″E﻿ / ﻿37.826270°S 144.947347°E﻿ / -37.826270; 144.947347 (East end)

General information
Type| Highway
Length| 12.1 km (7.5 mi)[1]
Gazetted| June 1990[2]
Route number(s)|

* Metro Route 35 (1989–present)
(Yarraville–Footscray)
* Metro Route 50 (1989–present)
(through Footscray)
* Metro Route 32 (1965–present)
(Footscray–West Melbourne)
* Metro Route 55 (2005–present)
(through Docklands)
* Metro Route 30 (1989–present)
(through Docklands)

Former
route number|

* Metro Route 2 (1978–1989)
(through Docklands)
* Metro Route 20 (1989–1999)
(through Docklands)
* National Highway 31 (1999–2005)
(through Docklands)

Tourist routes|  Tourist Route 2 (1989–present)
(through Docklands)
Major junctions
West end|  Geelong Road
Brooklyn, Melbourne

* Millers Road
* Williamstown Road
* Hyde Street
* Somerville Road
* Whitehall Street
* Napier Street
* CityLink
* Dudley Street
* Flinders Street
* West Gate Freeway

East end|  Montague Street
South Melbourne, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbs| Footscray, West Melbourne, Docklands
Highway system

* Highways in Australia
* National Highway • Freeways in Australia
* Highways in Victoria
*   *

Docklands Highway is an urban highway stretching 12 kilometres from Brooklyn in Melbourne's inner western suburbs to the Docklands precinct, adjacent to the city. This name covers many consecutive streets and is not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the names of its constituent parts: Francis Street, Whitehall Street, Moreland Street, Napier Street, Footscray Road, Dudley Street, Wurundjeri Way and Montague Street. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion.

## Route

[edit]

Docklands Highway commences as Francis Street at the intersection with Geelong Road and Millers Road in Brooklyn and heads east as a dual-lane, single-carriageway road, crossing the Newport–Sunshine railway line shortly after and widens to a four-lane, single-carriageway road, continuing east through Yarraville, before turning north along Whitehall Street through the eastern fringes of Footscray (southbound traffic uses Moreland Street for the last 500 metres), before it turns east and runs along Napier Street across the Maribyrnong River and continues east as Footscray Road as an eight-lane, dual-carriageway road through the industrial precinct of West Melbourne. It meets Docklands Drive and Harbour Esplanade on the northern borders of Docklands, turning east to run briefly along Dudley Street before turning south again to run along Wurundjeri Way, as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road, until it meets Flinders Street and turns west briefly to cross the Yarra River over the Charles Grimes Bridge as a six-lane, dual-carriageway road, until terminating at Montague Street shortly afterwards under the interchange with West Gate Freeway.

## History

[edit]

Footscray Road was signed as Metropolitan Route 32 between Footscray and West Melbourne in 1965; Metropolitan Route 35 was re-routed from Hyde Street to Whitehall Street in 1989, while Metropolitan Route 50 formed a concurrency along Whitehall Street in the same year; Metropolitan Route 30 was extended west from Flinders Street along North Wharf Road and across the Charles Grimes Bridge also in 1989; this alignment was subsumed into Wurundjeri Way in 1999. National Highway 31 was re-aligned to run along Wurundjeri Way when it opened in 1999; this was replaced by Metropolitan Route 55 in 2005.

The passing of the Transport Act of 1983[3] (itself an evolution from the original Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924[4]) provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Road Construction Authority (later VicRoads). State Highway (Francis Street) and State Highway (Whitehall Street/Moreland Street) were declared State Highways in June 1990,[2] along Francis Street from Geelong Road in Brooklyn to Whitehall Street in eastern Yarraville, and then along Whitehall and Moreland Streets to Footscray Road in eastern Footscray. These two highways were fused into one a year later, re-declared the Docklands Highway, and extended east along Napier Street across the Maribyrnong River in June 1991.[5] It was extended again along Footscray Road, across the Yarra River over the Charles Grimes Bridge to end at the interchange of Montague Street with the West Gate Freeway in September 1994,[6] later re-aligned along Dudley Street and Wurundjeri Way when the latter opened in 1999; all roads were known (and signposted) as their constituent parts.

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004[7] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Docklands Highway (Arterial #6120), from Geelong Road in Brooklyn to Montague Street in Southbank,[8] and as before, all roads are still presently known (and signposted) as their constituent parts.

## Major intersections

[edit]

LGA| Location[1][8]| km[1]| mi| Destinations| Notes

|
|
|
|
|

Hobsons Bay| Brooklyn| 0.0| 0.0|  Geelong Road (Metro Route 83 southwest, Metro Routes 41/83 northeast) – Laverton North, Footscray| Western terminus of highway (declared), western end of Francis Street
Millers Road (Metro Route 41 south) – Altona, Altona Meadows| Westbound traffic left turn only into Millers Road
Access to Geelong Road via service road
0.7| 0.43| Newport–Sunshine railway line
Stony Creek| 2.5| 1.6| Bridge (name unknown)
Maribyrnong| Yarraville| 2.8| 1.7|  Williamstown Road (Metro Route 37) – Kingsville, Williamstown|
3.4| 2.1| Werribee and Williamstown railway lines
4.1| 2.5|  Hyde Street (Metro Route 35 south, unallocated north) – Kingsville, Williamstown| Metro Route 35 continues south along Hyde Street
4.3| 2.7| Francis Street (east) – Holden Oil Dock| Western end of Francis Street, southern end of Whitehall Street
5.1| 3.2|  Somerville Road (Metro Route 50 west, unallocated east) – Kingsville, Sunshine West| Southern terminus of concurrency of Metro Route 50
Footscray| 6.2| 3.9|  Napier Street (Metro Route 32 west) – West Footscray, Sunshine West
Whitehall Street (Metro Routes 35/50 north) – Footscray| Northern end of Whitehall Street, western end of Napier Street
Metro Route 32 continues west along Napier Street, Metro Routes 35 and 50 continue north along Whitehall Street
Northern terminus of concurrency of Metro Routes 35 and 50
6.3| 3.9| Moreland Street  – Footscray| Northern half of Moreland Street one-way northbound only
Southern half of Moreland Street used as southbound section of highway through Footscray
Eastern end of Napier Street, western end of Footscray Road
Maribyrnong River| 6.4| 4.0| Shepherd Bridge
Melbourne| West Melbourne| 6.8| 4.2| MacKenzie Road (south) – Coode Island
Sims Street (north) – West Melbourne|
7.3| 4.5| Dock Link Road – West Melbourne, Swanson Dock|
8.4| 5.2| Appleton Dock Road – West Melbourne, Appleton Dock|
8.9| 5.5|  CityLink (M2) – Melbourne Airport, Port Melbourne|
Moonee Ponds Creek| 9.0| 5.6| Bridge (name unknown)
Melbourne| Docklands| 9.8| 6.1| Docklands Drive (west) – Docklands
Harbour Esplanade (south) – Docklands| Southern end of Footscray Road, western end of Dudley Street
10.0| 6.2|  Dudley Street (Metro Routes 32/55 east) – City| Eastern end of Dudley Street, northern end of Wurundjeri Way
Metro Routes 32 and 55 continue east along Dudley Street
10.9| 6.8| Bourke Street – Docklands, Docklands Stadium|
11.3| 7.0|  Flinders Street – City| Northern terminus of concurrency with Metro Route 30 and Tourist Route 2
Yarra River| 11.6–
11.9| 7.2–
7.4| Charles Grimes Bridge
Melbourne| Docklands| 11.9| 7.4| Harbour Esplanade (north) – Docklands| Northbound exit only
12.0| 7.5| Lorimer Street (west) – Fishermans Bend
Convention Centre Place (east) – Jeff's Shed| Northern end of Montague Street, southern end of Wurundjeri Way
Melbourne–Port Phillip boundary| Docklands–South Melbourne boundary| 12.1| 7.5|  West Gate Freeway (M1 east, M1/Tourist Route 2 west) – Geelong, Dandenong| Southern terminus of concurrency with Tourist Route 2
Tourist Route 2 continues west along West Gate Freeway
Montague Street (Metro Route 30 south) – South Melbourne| Eastern terminus of highway (declared), Metro Route 30 continues south along Montague Street
Southern terminus of concurrency with Metro Route 55
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

*       Concurrency terminus
*       Incomplete access
*       Route transition

## See also

[edit]

Australian Roads portal

* List of Melbourne highways

* v
* t
* e

Road infrastructure in Melbourne

Freeways|

*     * Princes Freeway
* West Gate Freeway
* CityLink Southern Link
* Monash Freeway
*     * CityLink Western Link
* Tullamarine Freeway
*     * Eastern Freeway
* EastLink
* Frankston Freeway
*     * Western Freeway
*     * Mornington Peninsula Freeway
*     * Hume Freeway
*     * Calder Freeway
*     * M80 Ring Road
*     * South Gippsland Freeway

Highways/Primary Arterial Roads|

*     * Plenty Road
*     * Nepean Highway
*     * Maroondah Highway
*     * Warburton Highway
*     * Western Port Highway

* Alexandra Parade
* Burwood Highway
* Bell Street / Springvale Road
* Bulleen Road
* Cheltenham Road / Lower Dandenong Road
* Dandenong Bypass
* Dandenong Road / Geelong Road
* Docklands Highway
* Dingley Bypass
* Greensborough Highway
* Frankston–Dandenong Road / Stud Road
* Hoddle Street / Punt Road
* Moorooduc Highway
* Ringwood Bypass
* St Georges Road
* Warrigal Road
* Yarra Bank Highway

Secondary/Other Arterial Roads|

*     * Craigieburn Road
*     * Fitzsimons Lane
*     * Hallam Road

* Airport Drive
* Ballarat Road
* Bridge Road
* Burke Road
* Canterbury Road
* Chandler Highway
* Clayton Road / Middleborough Road
* Flemington Road
* Glenferrie Road
* Heidelberg Road
* Koo Wee Rup Bypass
* Maribyrnong Road
* Melton Highway
* Mountain Highway
* Mount Alexander Road
* Pascoe Vale Road
* St Kilda Road
* 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

* Streets in Melbourne
* Highways in Melbourne
* VicRoads
* Transport in Melbourne

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Docklands Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
2. ^ a b "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 13 June 1990. pp. 1795–7. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
3. ^ State of Victoria, An Act to Re-enact with Amendments the Law relating to Transport including the Law with respect to Railways, Roads and Tramways... 23 June 1983
4. ^ State of Victoria, An Act to make further provision with respect to Highways and Country Roads Motor Cars and Traction Engines and for other purposes 30 December 1924
5. ^ "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 12 June 1991. pp. 1532–3. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
6. ^ "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 8 September 1994. pp. 2411–2. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ a b VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads 2024" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 903\. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.

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