Nepean Highway
Nepean Highway runs south from St Kilda Junction in Victoria, Australia to Portsea, close to the eastern shore of Port Phillip. It is the primary road route to central Melbourne from Melbourne's southern suburbs.
Nepean Highway Brighton Road Point Nepean Road | |
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| Nepean Highway in Dromana | |
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| General information | |
| Type | Highway |
| Length | 90.6 km (56 mi)[1] |
| Route number(s) |
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| Former route number |  State Route 3 (1965-1998)(Mornington-Point Nepean) |
| Major junctions | |
| North end | St Kilda Road St Kilda, Melbourne |
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| South end | Point Nepean National Park Portsea |
| Location(s) | |
| Major settlements | Elsternwick, Moorabbin, Cheltenham, Mordialloc, Chelsea, Carrum, Seaford, Frankston, Mount Eliza, Mornington, Dromana, Rosebud, Sorrento |
| Highway system | |
History
Originally known as Arthurs Seat Road it was built in the 1850s to provide a road (originally a crude sandy track) from the farms (owned by Alexander Balcombe) south of Melbourne and link the city with its southern bay settlements and sea defences at Point Nepean.
The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924[2] through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads). The Nepean Highway was declared a State Highway in the 1947/48 financial year,[3] from Glenhuntly Road in Elsternwick via Frankston to Portsea (for a total of 55 miles); before this declaration, the road was referred to as Point Nepean Road.[4] It was named after Point Nepean, itself named after the British politician and Colonial Administrator, Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet PC.
The Nepean Highway was signed as State Route 3 between Melbourne and Portsea in 1965; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, the southern half of the highway from Mornington to Sorrento was replaced by route B110, which continues on the other side of the bay at Queenscliff to run along Bellarine Highway until Geelong
The passing of the Transport Act of 1983[5] (itself an evolution from the original Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924) updated the provision for the declaration of State Highways through VicRoads. Nepean Road was declared a Tourist Toad in May 1991,[6] between Marine Drive in Dromana and the end of the road in Portsea; however the road was still known (and signposted) as Nepean Highway.
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 Nepean Highway (Arterial #6660), beginning at St Kilda Road at St Kilda (this declaration formally includes today's St Kilda Road from St Kilda Junction and Brighton Road, but signposts along this section have kept its original name) and ending at Mornington-Flinders Road (sign-posted as Nepean Highway) in Dromana (better known as the Mount Martha interchange with the Mornington Peninsula Freeway),[8] and the renaming of Nepean Road as Point Nepean Road (Arterial #4034) between Mornington-Dromana Road (known as Marine Drive) between Dromana and the end of the road in Portsea.[9] The remnant between the intersection with Marine Parade and the Mount Martha interchange with the Mornington Peninsula Freeway have been declared as Bittern-Dromana Road (Arterial #5754) between Marine Parade and Bittern-Dromana Road proper,[10] and Mornington-Flinders Road (Arterial #5751) between Mornington-Flinders Road proper and the Mount Martha interchange;[11] these sections are still sign-posted as Nepean Highway.
Between the 1950s and about 1980, the road was progressively upgraded to a divided highway between the City and Mordialloc. From Mordialloc to Frankston, the highway is an undivided four lane road. The widening of the Mordialloc Bridge,[12] the last section of less than four lanes, was completed in early 2009.
Route
Melbourne to Elsternwick
The length of road starts as Swanston Street at the Melbourne General Cemetery and passes through the Melbourne CBD and over the Princes Bridge to the Melbourne Arts Precinct before becoming St Kilda Road, a leafy four lane boulevard shared with trams. Metro Route 3 begins at the Victorian Arts Centre and passes the Shrine of Remembrance. It passes through St Kilda Junction prior to the widening in the late 1960s this section was formerly known as High Street[13] as far as the intersection with Carlisle Street. From this point the road changes name to Brighton Road. At the intersection with Glen Huntly Road, Elsternwick it finally becomes Nepean Highway. Tram route 67 runs down the middle of the highway until it turns into Glen Huntly Road. In 1984 conversion of the seven kilometre section between Cochrane Street, Elsternwick and South Road, Moorabbin to a dual carriageway was completed.[14]
Elsternwick to Mornington
At Glen Huntly Road, the speed limit increases to 80 km/h and the road widens to become an eight-lane dual carriageway. It is reduced to six lanes at Moorabbin, passing through Cheltenham and Mentone, and then to the 60 km/h or 70 km/h four-lane single carriageway after the roundabouts at Mordialloc. The highway then travels virtually along the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay, to Frankston, with several stretches of dual carriageway, and then up Olivers Hill, from which there are good views across Frankston and the bay.
Mornington Peninsula
In the late 1960s a bypass road was constructed in the suburb of Mount Eliza. Previously the highway travelled through the main shopping village: this section is now known as Mount Eliza Way.
After passing through Mount Martha, the highway runs parallel to the Mornington Peninsula Freeway, before turning toward the town of Dromana. Here the highway changes name again, to become Point Nepean Road, its former name in the early years of settlement. From here, Arthurs Seat is accessible, which gives views across the bay, and on a clear day, the skyscrapers of Melbourne are visible. Anthonys Nose is a point, or escarpment located on the southern shore of Port Phillip Bay, between Dromana and McCrae. The highway passes between "The Nose" and the shores of the bay. It was named by Charles La Trobe in 1839. In the 1920s "The Nose" was modified in order to combat the daily tides that blocked the highway.
Route B110 leaves the highway at Sorrento to cross the bay to Queenscliff, via the ferry where it continues to Geelong, via Bellarine Highway, but the highway continues as a two lane road down to the seaside resort of Portsea. The end of the highway is the very nondescript painted turning circle, before the gates of the former Commonwealth quarantine and defence station of Point Nepean, a humble ending to Melbourne's main southern highway.
Possible future north-south connection
Transurban, in their Response to the Eddington Report, July 2008,[15] believe a north–south corridor from the Hume Freeway and Metropolitan Ring Road to the Nepean Highway south of Glen Huntly Road, Elsternwick, generally via the Hoddle Highway corridor, deserves attention.
This alignment would follow the original F2 Freeway corridor as proposed in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan.
Major intersections and towns
See also
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nepean Highway. |
- Google (13 October 2021). "Nepean Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- 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
- "Country Roads Board Victoria. Thirty-Fifth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1948". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 1 November 1948. p. 7.
- "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twenty-Sixth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1939". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 10 November 1939. pp. 93–4.
- 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
- "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 22 May 1991. pp. 1341–2. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- State Government of Victoria. "Road Management Act 2004" (PDF). Government of Victoria. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. pp. 1009–11. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 805. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 712. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 710. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- Nepean Highway Mordialloc Creek Bridge, Mordialloc, VicRoads Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- Metropolitan Town Planning Commission Report 1929 Plan for General Development Melbourne available from https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/policy-and-strategy/planning-for-melbourne/melbournes-strategic-planning-history/plan-for-general-development-1929, p86 (direct ref https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/101514/Part-3.pdf)
- Nepean Highway Australian Transport December 1984 page 14
- Response to the Eddington Report, July 2008
