Princes Highway, Melbourne

The Princes Highway route through Melbourne^[1], runs along former alignments with which originally Highway 1 (now the M1) now run on Melbourne's freeway network.

Route

Werribee section

The western-most suburban section of the highway begins in Werribee South, where the road travels direct to the Werribee town centre before continuing north-east toward the freeway or locally known as Geelong Road via Hoppers Crossing. This stretch through Werribee is 9 km and varies from a two lane single carriageway to a four lane dual carriageway^[2].

Melbourne section

The more significant section of the bypassed section of the Princes Highway commences at Laverton North and traverses through the Melbourne city centre and an interchange with the M1 at Southbank 2 km south of the city to Berwick, more than 40 km south-east of the city centre. The highway here yet again intersects with the M1, and the commencement of the bypassed sections of the Princes Freeway heading into eastern Victoria. Major suburban centres along the route include Footscray and Parkville along the western suburbs, and Caulfield, Chadstone and Dandenong serve as significant centres on the south-eastern metropolitan region of the Princes Highway. In total the highway traverses 58 km through the Melbourne metropolitan region, which is the longest and the southeastern portion alone runs for 41 km.

However, the confusion of arrangement of roads along the current Princes Highway reservation makes the M1 far more prominent to navigate through Melbourne as oppose to the Princes Highway name. It commences as Geelong Road, which is a far more indirect route into Melbourne as oppose to the West Gate Freeway as it first heads northwest to Parkville before turning southeast. As Geelong Road approaches the Ballarat Road junction, which becomes the Western Freeway to Adelaide, the name then changes after it to Ballarat Road, Smithfield Road, Racecourse Road, Flemington Road, Harker Street, Curzon Street, and then King Street, in that order through Parkville and North Melbourne, into the Melbourne CBD. From there it continues as Kings Way south of the city centre and interchanges with the M1 at Southbank before continuing as Queens Road through Albert Park (this section of highway is shown in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as part of the F14 freeway corridor). The highway then becomes Dandenong Road from St. Kilda to Springvale, before the more official Princes Highway name recommences to Berwick (with the minor exception that it becomes Lonsdale Street (through central Dandenong)). This reason for this confusing naming of the highway is that it follows streets and roads which were already named when the highway was named in 1920 and were never renamed.

Through Melbourne and its suburbs Highway 1 runs along Melbourne's freeway network with the West Gate Freeway which bypasses central Melbourne and the inner western suburbs, and the Monash Freeway, which bypasses Dandenong and intersects the Princes Highway at Berwick. These two freeways have been linked by the southern link of the CityLink tollway. This avoids the confusing and congested arrangement of roads that is the Princes Highway in central Melbourne.

The majority of the Melbourne section of the highway is a six lane divided carriageway, with the exception of inner Melbourne traffic conditions, which varies from eight lane divided carriageways to four lane single carriageways.

See also

• Highways in Australia
• List of highways in Melbourne

References