Maroondah Highway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maroondah Highway (Whitehorse Road) |
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| Balwyn-Lilydale: | |
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| Lilydale-Coldstream: | |
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| Coldstream-Alexandra: | |
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| Alexandra-Koriella | |
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| Koriella-Yarck: | |
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| Yarck-Maindample: | |
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| Maindample-Mansfield: | |
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| Length | 200 kilometres |
| General direction: | Southwest-Northeast |
| From: | Kew, Melbourne |
| To: | Mansfield, Victoria |
| Towns along road: | Lilydale, Coldstream, Healesville, Buxton, Alexandra, Merton |
The Maroondah Highway (also known as Whitehorse Road from Balwyn to Croydon), is a major east-west thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and a highway servicing the lower alpine region Victoria, Australia.
[edit] Geography
Whitehorse Road begins as a continuation of Cotham Road at Burke Road, in the suburb of Balwyn/Deepdene. At this point, it is a typical inner-Melbourne four lane arterial road. The route 109 tram also runs along this stretch of the road.
The road continues through Mont Albert, until its intersection with Elgar Road in Box Hill, where the road becomes a dual carriageway with trams running down the central median strip. The tram terminates at Market Street, a few blocks further on. From this point, Whitehorse Road is also known as Maroondah Highway, though retains its name through the municipals of Whitehorse and Maroondah. It passes through the suburbs of Blackburn, Nunawading, Mitcham, Ringwood and Croydon. From here, the Maroondah Highway continues on past Lilydale, as a rural highway all the way through to Mansfield.
[edit] History
In the 1850s, Whitehorse Road was the primary route from Melbourne to Gippsland, a route which went via the Dandenong Ranges. The traffic led to the establishment of a hotel in Box Hill named the White Horse hotel. It is this hotel of which the road obtained its name from. However, the hotel was forced to shut its doors in 1921 when Box Hill became a dry area. A replica of the white horse from the roof of the hotel now stands in the median strip of Whitehorse Road, while the restored original is located in the Box Hill town hall.
