Western Highway (Victoria)
The Western Highway is the Victorian part of the principal route linking the Australian cities of Melbourne and Adelaide, with a length of approximately 258 kilometres (160 mi) of single carriageway, then 161 kilometres (100 mi) of dual carriageway known as the Western Freeway. It is a part of the National Highway network and designated routes A8 and M8. The western end continues into South Australia as the Dukes Highway, the next section of the Melbourne–Adelaide National Highway. The Western Freeway joins Melbourne's freeway network via the Western Ring Road, in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
Western Highway Western Freeway | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Highway |
| Length | 419 km (260 mi) |
| Route number(s) |
|
| Former route number |
|
| Major junctions | |
| West end | Dukes Highway VIC/SA border |
| East end | Western Ring Road Derrimut, Melbourne |
| Location(s) | |
| Major settlements | Nhill, Dimboola, Horsham, Stawell, Ararat, Beaufort, Ballarat, Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Melton, Rockbank, Caroline Springs |
| Highway system | |
The Western Highway is the second busiest national highway in Australia, in terms of freight movements, with over five million tonnes annually. It provides the link between the eastern seaboard and South Australia and Western Australia. The towns along the way, including Ballarat, Ararat, Stawell and Horsham, are agricultural and manufacturing centres.
Plans are under way for the freeway to be extended west to Ararat, and eventually, to Stawell.
The Western Freeway has subsumed or bypassed numerous sections of the older Western Highway alignment. Bypassed sections of the former Western Highway that remain are generally designated sequentially from C801 to C805, or as Metropolitan Route 8 (within suburban Melbourne).
The Melbourne section of the Western Highway is shown in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as part of the F12 Freeway corridor.