Ballarat Road

See also: Western Highway, Victoria

Ballarat Road Victoria
Ballarat Road, Ravenhall
West end East end
Coordinates	37.752°S 144.728°E / -37.752; 144.728 (West end) 37.7955°S 144.912°E / -37.7955; 144.912 (East end)
General information
Type	Road
Length	16 km (9.9 mi)
Route number(s)	Metro Route 8 (2009–present) (Ravenhall–Footscray)
Former route number	National Highway M8 (1997–2009) National Highway 8 (1974–1997) (Ravenhall–Ardeer) National Highway 8 (1974–2009) (Ardeer–Footscray) National Route 8 (1955–1974) Entire route
Major junctions
West end	Western Freeway Ravenhall, Melbourne
	Station Road Western Ring Road Anderson Road McIntyre Road Churchill Avenue Gordon Street Geelong Road Moore Street
East end	Smithfield Road Footscray, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbs	Caroline Springs, Deer Park, Albion, Sunshine, Braybrook

Ballarat Road (in its westernmost part the Western Highway) is a major urban arterial road in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

History

Previously part of Western Highway, the road was bypassed as the main route through western Melbourne when the Deer Park bypass opened in 2009; the road name was devolved back to its original identity as Ballarat Road as a consequence, however, the route is still co-signed as Western Highway on older signs. The highway was originally designated in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as part of the F12 Freeway corridor.

As a part of the Western Highway, the road was signed as National Route 8 in 1955. The Whitlam government introduced the federal National Roads Act 1974, where roads declared as a National Highway were still the responsibility of the states for road construction and maintenance, but were fully compensated by the Federal government for money spent on approved projects. As an important interstate link between the capitals of Victoria and South Australia, the Western Highway was declared a National Highway in 1974.

With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, the section between Ravenhall and Ardeer (where it met the Western Ring Road) was upgraded to National Highway M8; it was left as National Highway 8 east of the ring road along its original alignment into central Melbourne. Once the Deer Park bypass was opened in 2009 and National Route M8 was re-routed onto the new bypass, the old route was replaced with Metropolitan Route 8 from Ravenhall to the inner suburb of Footscray.

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2014, VicRoads declared this road as Footscray-Caroline Springs Road (Arterial #5520), beginning in Footscray and ending in Ravenhall; the road is still presently known (and signposted) as Ballarat Road.

Geography

VicRoads' declaration states Ballarat Road starts at the intersection with Princes Highway (Geelong Road) in Footscray, however signposts still indicate the road starts west of Lynch's bridge across the Yarra River. It continues west through Maidstone, Braybrook, Sunshine, Albion, Cairnlea, Deer Park, Burnside, and Caroline Springs, with the route terminating at the junction of Caroline Springs Boulevard, Christies Road and the Western Freeway on ramp. Major junctions along the route include the Western Ring Road and the Western Freeway, where the route terminates as said above.

Turning onto Christies Road from the route terminus, road users are able to turn onto the Deer Park Bypass

Transport

Tram route 82 runs along the Footscray section of Ballarat Road, between Gordon & Droop Streets. The Serviceton railway line from Southern Cross runs parallel to Ballarat Road from Sunshine about 1 km to the south, with stations at Albion, and Deer Park. Several bus routes run along Ballarat Road at various points (routes 215, 216, 220, 223, 256, 400, 406, 408, 410 and 456) with 456 continuing on the Western Freeway to Melton.

With three lanes running in each direction, between Deer Park and the Western Ring Road, this was one of the worst bottlenecks in western Melbourne with traffic reaching 70,000 vehicles per day, with 10 per cent of this consisting of heavy vehicles. This caused delays, in part due to seven traffic signals between the Western Ring Road and the start of the Western Freeway. With the completion of the Deer Park Bypass traffic volumes were predicted to decrease to local traffic standard since its opening on 5 April 2009.

In central Melbourne, Ballarat Road has a single carriageway from Braybrook and is a two lane arterial road, including one small stretch which shares the road with trams.

Major intersections and suburbs

LGA	Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
Melton	Ravenhall	0.0	0.0	Western Freeway (M8 west) – Melton, Bacchus Marsh, Ballarat, Horsham, Adelaide	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance ramps only Western terminus of Metro Route 8
	Ravenhall, Caroline Springs	0.9	0.56	Caroline Springs Boulevard (north) – Caroline Springs Christies Road (south) – to City via Western Freeway (M8 east)
	Ravenhall, Burnside	2.4	1.5	Westwood Drive – Hoppers Crossing, Burnside
Brimbank	Deer Park	4.4	2.7	Station Road (Metro Route 40) – Laverton, Taylors Lakes
	Deer Park, Cairnlea	5.4	3.4	Kororoit Creek
	Deer Park, Ardeer, Cairnlea	6.2	3.9	Western Ring Road (M80 northeast, M80/Tourist Drive 21 southwest) – Ballarat, Geelong, Adelaide; Greensborough, Seymour, Sydney
	Albion	8.9	5.5	Bendigo railway line
	Sunshine	9.3	5.8	St Albans Road (northwest) – St Albans McIntyre Road (Metro Route 41 north) – Taylors Lakes, Keilor Downs Anderson Road (Metro Route 41 south) – Sunshine, Brooklyn
	Sunshine, Sunshine North, Braybrook	11.0	6.8	Duke Street – Braybrook, Sunshine North
Maribyrnong	Braybrook	12.6	7.8	Ashley Street – Tottenham, Yarraville
	Maidstone	12.9	8.0	Churchill Avenue (Metro Routes 38/39) – Braybrook, Maribyrnong
	Maidstone, Footscray	14.3	8.9	Rosamond Road (north) – Maribyrnong Summerhill Road (south) – West Footscray
	Footscray	15.0	9.3	Gordon Street (Metro Route 37) – Williamstown, Essendon
		15.3	9.5	Droop Street – Footscray
		15.4	9.6	Farnsworth Avenue – Ascot Vale
		16.0	9.9	Geelong Road (Metro Route 83) – Werribee, Geelong	Route transition Metro Route 8 eastern terminus; Metro Route 83 continues east from Geelong Road
		16.5	10.3	Moore Street (Metro Route 35) – Footscray	Western concurrency terminus with Metro Route 35
Maribyrnong River		17.3	10.7	Lynchs Bridge
Melbourne	Flemington	16.5	10.3	Smithfield Road (Metro Routes 35/83) – Flemington	Continues east as Smithfield Road into Flemington, Parkville, City
Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Route transition

See also

• Western Highway