Calder Highway

Calder Highway New South Wales – Victoria
General information
Type	Highway
Length	448 km (278 mi)
Route number(s)	B79 (2013-present) Silver City Highway - NSW/Vic. Border A79 (1998-present) NSW/Vic. Border - Calder Freeway Duplexes: (1998-present) Bendigo - Calder Freeway
Former route number	National Route 79 (? - 1998 / 2013) in Vic. / NSW respectively
Major junctions
NW end	Silver City Highway Curlwaa, New South Wales Vic/NSW Border
	Sturt Highway Mallee Highway Sunraysia Highway Borung Highway Midland Highway for full list see major intersections
SE end	Calder Freeway Ravenswood South, Victoria
Location(s)
Major settlements	Mildura, Ouyen, Charlton, Bendigo
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in New South Wales Highways in Victoria

Calder Highway^[1] is a highway in Australia, linking Ravenswood South in Victoria, to Mildura. North of the Victoria/New South Wales border, the highway continues north to Broken Hill, Tibooburra and the New South Wales/Queensland border as the Silver City Highway, as route B79 as far as Broken Hill.^[2]

History

The Calder Highway was named after William Calder, who was chairman of the Country Roads Board from 1913 to 1928. The CRB was renamed Victorian Road Construction Authority and is today known as VicRoads.

The highway was originally allocated a National Route 79 shield. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s this was altered to an A79 designation for the majority highway portion, with the New South Wales section allocated B79 in 2013.

Route

South of the Victoria/New South Wales border the highway is a two-lane, single carriageway in each direction, continuing through northwest Victoria from the Abbotsford Bridge, through Merbein to the major regional town of Mildura in the state's north-west. Here also it crosses the Sturt Highway (A20) leading to capital cities Adelaide heading west and Sydney heading east. Further south, it crosses the Mallee Highway (B12) at Ouyen and runs south-east eventually to Bendigo. Between Wycheproof and Red Cliffs the highway has a speed limit of 110 km/h.

The Calder Alternate Highway (A790) leaves the A79 just north of Ravenswood and bypasses the Bendigo suburban area, rejoining the A79 at Marong, west of Bendigo.

For most of its length from Bendigo to its end at its junction with the Tullamarine Freeway in Melbourne, the Calder Highway is a four lane dual carriageway, upgraded to freeway standard as the Calder Freeway. The Old Calder Highway has been designated C794 from where it leaves the new Calder Freeway at Ravenswood South.

Gallery of notable sights

• 

  The Calder Highway, passing through Irymple.

• 

  The end of the Calder Highway at the intersection of the Silver City Highway, near Curlwaa, New South Wales.

• 

  Fruit disposal bins and warning signs along the Calder Highway, approaching the Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone near Mildura.

Major Intersections and Towns

Calder Highway
Northbound	Distance to Broken Hill (km)	Distance to Melbourne (km)	Southbound
End Calder Highway continues as Silver City Highway to Wentworth and Broken Hill	273	565	Start Calder Highway from Silver City Highway
Buronga Silver City Highway
Start	273.5	564.5	End
MURRAY RIVER			MURRAY RIVER
NEW SOUTH WALES STATE BORDER VICTORIA
End	273.5	564.5	Start
Mildura Town Centre Ranfurly Way	284.5	553.5	Merbein
Merbein			Mildura Town Centre Ranfurly Way
continues as	294	544	Renmark, Adelaide Sturt Highway
Renmark, Adelaide Sturt Highway			duplexes with
Northbound	Distance to Mildura (km)	Distance to Melbourne via (km)	Southbound
duplexes with	2	541	Mildura Town Centre, Balranald, Sydney Sturt Highway
Mildura Town Centre, Balranald, Sydney Sturt Highway			continues as
Buronga Benetook Avenue (Buronga-Mildura Road)	4	539	Buronga Benetook Avenue (Buronga-Mildura Road)
Irymple	6	537	Irymple
Red Cliffs	15	528	Red Cliffs
Meringur Red Cliffs-Meringur Road	17	526	Meringur Red Cliffs-Meringur Road
Colignan Red Cliffs-Colignan Road	18	525	Colignan Red Cliffs-Colignan Road
Robinvale Hattah-Robinvale Road	67	476	Robinvale Hattah-Robinvale Road
Ouyen	102	441	Ouyen
continues as	102.2	440.8	Piangil, Swan Hill Mallee Highway
Piangil, Balranald, Sydney Mallee Highway			duplexes with
duplexes with	102.3	440.7	Pinnaroo, Murray Bridge, Adelaide Mallee Highway
Pinnaroo, Murray Bridge, Adelaide Mallee Highway			continues as
Birchip Sunraysia Highway	113	430	Birchip, Ballarat, Portland Melbourne via Freeway Sunraysia Highway
Mittyack	139	404	Mittyack
Patchewollock Patchewollock-Sea Lake Road	172	371	Patchewollock Patchewollock-Sea Lake Road
Robinvale Robinvale-Sea Lake Road	187	356	Robinvale Robinvale-Sea Lake Road
continues as	191	352	Sea Lake
Swan Hill Sea Lake-Swan Hill Road			Swan Hill Sea Lake-Swan Hill Road
Sea Lake			duplexes with
duplexes with	191.5	351.5	To Birchip Hopetoun Birchip-Sea Lake Road
To Birchip Hopetoun Birchip-Sea Lake Road			continues as
Donald, Swan Hill Donald-Swan Hill Road	252	291	Swan Hill, Donald Donald-Swan Hill Road
Birchip Birchip-Wycheproof Road	267	276	Birchip Birchip-Wycheproof Road
Boort Boort-Wycheproof Road	268	275	Wycheproof
Wycheproof			Boort Boort-Wycheproof Road
St Arnaud St Arnaud-Wycheproof Road	274	269	St Arnaud St Arnaud-Wycheproof Road
Donald, Dimboola Borung Highway	297	246	Donald, Dimboola Borung Highway
St Arnaud Charlton-St Arnaud Road	298	245	Charlton
Charlton			St Arnaud Charlton-St Arnaud Road
Boort, Kerang Boort-Charlton Road	299	244	Boort, Kerang Boort-Charlton Road
Wedderburn	329	214	Wedderburn
Boort, Kerang Boort-Wedderburn Road	329.3	213.7	Boort, Kerang Boort-Wedderburn Road
Logan, St Arnaud Logan-Wedderburn Road	329.5	213.5	Logan, St Arnaud Logan-Wedderburn Road
Inglewood	358	185	Inglewood
Dunolly, Maryborough Bridgewater-Dunolly Road Serpentine, Kerang Bridgewater-Serpentine Road	365	178	Serpentine, Kerang Bridgewater-Serpentine Road Dunolly, Maryborough Bridgewater-Dunolly Road
Bridgewater On Loddon	365.5	177.5	Bridgewater On Loddon
Maldon Bridgewater-Maldon Road	366	177	Maldon, Castlemaine Bridgewater-Maldon Road
To St Arnaud, Horsham Melbourne via Town Bypass Calder Alternative Highway	388	155	Marong
Marong			To St Arnaud Melbourne via Town Bypass Calder Alternative Highway
Westbound	Distance to Mildura (km)	Distance to Bendigo (km)	Eastbound
Long Gully, Eaglehawk, Golden Square Golden Square-Long Gully Road	399	4	Golden Square, Long Gully Golden Square-Long Gully Road
Eaglehawk, Kerang Loddon Valley Highway	401	2	Eaglehawk, Kerang Loddon Valley Highway
White Hills Eaglehawk Road	401.6	1.4	White Hills, Echuca, Shepparton Eaglehawk Road
Northbound	Distance to Bendigo (km)	Distance to Melbourne (km)	Southbound
continues as	1	150	Bendigo City Centre To Heathcote, Kilmore Echuca, Shepparton High Street Quarry Hill, Flora Hill Myrtle Street
Bendigo City Centre To Heathcote, Kilmore Echuca, Shepparton High Street Quarry Hill, Flora Hill Myrtle Street			duplexes with
Long Gully, Eaglehawk Golden Square-Long Gully Road Quarry Hill, Strathdale Golden Square-Quarry Hill Road	3.6	147.4	Quarry Hill Golden Square-Quarry Hill Road Long Gully Golden Square-Long Gully Road
Maryborough Bendigo-Maryborough Road	6	145	Kangaroo Flat
Kangaroo Flat			Maryborough Bendigo-Maryborough Road
Mildura via Town Bypass Calder Alternative Highway	16	135	Mildura via Town Bypass Calder Alternative Highway
Start Calder Highway from Calder Freeway	25	126	Harcourt, Elphinstone, Taradale Old Calder Highway Maldon Fogartys Gap Road
			End Calder Highway continues as Calder Freeway to Castlemaine, Ballarat and Melbourne

References

See also

• Highways in Australia
• Highways in Victoria

Road infrastructure in Victoria Freeways Calder Freeway Goulburn Valley Freeway Hume Freeway Princes Freeway (Geelong Ring Road) Western Freeway Highways Bass Highway Bellarine Highway Borung Highway Calder Highway Calder Alternative Highway Glenelg Highway Goulburn Valley Highway Hamilton Highway Henty Highway Hopkins Highway Kiewa Valley Highway Loddon Valley Highway Mallee Highway Maroondah Highway McIvor Highway Melba Highway Midland Highway Monaro Highway Murray Valley Highway Nepean Highway Northern Highway Omeo Highway Princes Highway Pyrenees Highway South Gippsland Highway Strzelecki Highway Sturt Highway Sunraysia Highway Surf Coast Highway Warburton Highway Western Highway Western Port Highway Wimmera Highway Bypass routes Old Hume Highway Old Princes Highway Princes Highway (Geelong) Tourist routes Great Alpine Road Great Ocean Road Murray Valley Highway Phillip Island Road