State (Bell/Springvale) Highway
| State (Bell/Springvale) Highway Victoria | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Road |
| Length | 57 km (35 mi) |
| Route number(s) |
|
| Former route number |
 State Route 11 Along Springvale Road |
| Major junctions | |
| West end |
  Tullamarine Freeway, Strathmore, Melbourne |
| South end |
 Nepean Highway, Edithvale, Melbourne |
| Location(s) | |
| Major suburbs | Coburg, Heidelberg, Doncaster, Nunawading, Glen Waverley, Springvale |
The State (Bell/Springvale) Highway,[1] also known as Route 40 or the Bell / Springvale State Highway, is the longest urban highway in Melbourne (other than the Princes Highway) linking Tullamarine Freeway and the Nepean Highway. It is classed as an arterial road,[1] and allocated State Route 40. Various street names are used along the highway – Banksia Street, Bell-Banksia Link, Bell Street, Manningham Road, and Springvale Road.[1]
The highway experiences considerable congestion. Throughout the 1980s and '90s, the Doncaster Road section carried around 50,000 vehicles per hour at peak, this number dropped in 1997 after the extension of the Eastern Freeway.
Several level crossings are located along the highway, in Edithvale, Preston and Coburg. With the completion of works in January 2010 to lower the rail line in Nunawading, plus an older one in Heidelberg, there are now two railway grade separations along the route.[2] As of May 2014, a level crossing at Springvale has also been removed.[3]
The road itself varies in capacity over its length between three-laned dual carriageways and two-way single carriageways. Many junctions such as the Nepean Highway, Princes Highway, Monash Freeway, Eastern Freeway, Hume Highway and Tullamarine Freeway contribute to large traffic volumes along Route 40.
Alternate names
There are a variety of street names along the route, many of which are familiar to motorists and used on radio traffic updates, including:
- Bell Street (from Strathmore to Heidelberg)
- Banksia Street (within Heidelberg)
- Manningham Road (from Bulleen to Doncaster)
- Williamsons Road (within central Doncaster)
- Doncaster Road (from Doncaster to Donvale)
- Mitcham Road (within Donvale)
- Springvale Road (from Donvale to Chelsea Heights)
- Edithvale Road (formerly Springvale Road) (from Chelsea Heights to Edithvale)
The original 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan showed the F4 Freeway following the Tullamarine Freeway, Bell and Banksia Streets, to Williamsons Road then joining the F7 Freeway heading south along the Middleborough Road and the Blackburn Road corridor to the F2 Freeway (Dingley Freeway section) between Clayton and Westall Roads (rather than Springvale Road).
Major intersections and suburbs
See also
References
- 1 2 3 VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A)" (PDF). Government of Victoria. pp. 962–964. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014.
- ↑ Springvale Road Rail Separation Project. VicRoads. www.vicroads.vic.gov.au. Retrieved on 10 July 2009
- ↑ Springvale Level Crossing Removal Project. "VicRoads". www.vicroads.vic.gov.au. Retrieved on 24 May 2014
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