Maroondah Highway

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.

History

In the 1850s, Whitehorse Road was built to be the primary route from Melbourne to Gippsland, a rather circuitous route which went via the Dandenong Ranges. The primary route to Gippsland from the CBD is now through Monash Freeway and the South Gippsland Highway.

The road, when first built, was named Three Chain Road, due to the road width being 66 yards (60 m) wide.

The traffic led to the establishment of a hotel in Box Hill named the White Horse hotel which had been named in respect to a horse belonging to Capt Elgar, a property owner in the area. It is this hotel of which the road obtained its name. 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.

Route

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, single carriageway arterial road. The route 109 tram also runs along this stretch of the road, making the road quite congested throughout daylight hours.

The road continues through Mont Albert, until its intersection with Elgar Road in Box Hill, where the road becomes a four lane dual carriageway with trams running down the central median strip. Burke Road and Elgar Roads being the east and west boundaries of Capt Elgar's original two mile square property. The tram terminates at Market Street, a few blocks further on. From this point, Whitehorse Road is also known as Maroondah Highway, a three lane divided highway, though it 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. There is a moderately steep and moderately twisty section through forest between Healesville and Buxton, and the road then continues through farmland all the way through to Mansfield via Alexandra and Bonnie Doon.

Speed limit

• Kew-Box Hill (Middleborough Road) 60 km/h
• Box Hill-Blackburn 70 km/h
• Blackburn-Ringwood 80 km/h
• Ringwood 60 km/h
• Ringwood-Lilydale 80 km/h
• Lilydale 50 km/h
• Lilydale-Coldstream 80 km/h
• Coldstream 70 km/h
• Coldstream-Healesville 100 km/h
• Healesville 50/60 km/h
• Black Spur 80 km/h
• Narbethong-Mansfield 100 km/h
• Mansfield 50 km/h

Major intersections and towns

See also

• Highways in Australia
• Highways in Victoria