Hoddle Highway

Hoddle Highway
Also known as Hoddle Street, Punt Road and Barkly Street.
Length	14 km (9 mi)
Direction	North-South
From	High Street, Clifton Hill, Melbourne
via	Collingwood, Abbotsford, Richmond, South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor, St. Kilda
To	Marine Parade, Elwood, Melbourne
Allocation	St. Kilda Junction: (duplex with )
Major junctions	Heidelberg Road Eastern Freeway Alexandra Parade Johnston Street Victoria Parade / Victoria Street Wellington Parade / Bridge Road Swan Street CityLink Alexandra Avenue Toorak Road Commercial Road High Street Dandenong Road St. Kilda Road Fitzroy Street St. Kilda Road (Nepean Highway) Carlisle Street Glen Huntly Road

Hoddle Highway is an urban highway in Melbourne linking CityLink and the Eastern Freeway, allotted metropolitan route . The name "Hoddle Highway" is almost completely unknown to most drivers - who refer instead to its constituent parts: Hoddle Street and Punt Road.

It starts at the Eastern Freeway entrance in Fitzroy and heads directly southwards until reaching Citylink in Richmond, near the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and continues across the Yarra River and down to the Nepean and Princes Highways, at St Kilda Junction.

This highway is frequently clogged with traffic, particularly during peak hour and during sport events, as it passes through busy inner Melbourne suburbs and the city's main sport and event precinct. This highway is also known as Hoddle Street north of Bridge Road, named after Robert Hoddle, architect of Melbourne's Hoddle Grid, and Punt Road south of Bridge Road, named after the punt used to cross the Yarra River before a bridge was built.

This continues on through the congested four laned undivided South Yarra district before heading further south into Barkly Street, through the St. Kilda city centre before terminating at Marine Parade.

Here is a run down of the few streets that exceed the Hoddle Highway status.

Hoddle Street

Hoddle Street looking south, with Collingwood town hall on the left

Hoddle Street is a busy arterial road in inner-eastern Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was named after Robert Hoddle, the surveyor who designed Melbourne's Hoddle Grid and some of its inner suburbs such as Carlton. It varies between an undivided arterial road with two lanes running each way, to a three or four lane dual carriageway.

Hoddle Street runs 3.5 km north-south from Clifton Hill to Richmond where it becomes Punt Road, continuing south through Windsor, and as Barkly Street, through St. Kilda and Elwood. North of Clifton Hill, the line of Hoddle Street continues north as High Street, through the suburbs of Northcote, Thornbury, Preston, Reservoir and Thomastown.

The majority of Hoddle Street is a wide section (3 to 4 lanes in each direction) making up a portion of the Hoddle Highway. This section connects the Eastern Freeway and Punt Road to other arterial roads that feed into the Melbourne CBD.

Hoddle Street Massacre

In 1987, Hoddle Street was the site of a deadly shooting spree known as the Hoddle Street massacre with 7 people dying.

Punt Road

This stretch of road is famous^{[citation needed]} for the punt crossing near Alexandra Avenue and the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Barkly Street

This stretch of road is famous^{[citation needed]} for the street stalls of St. Kilda and nearby Luna Park.

The 1969 Freeway Plan For Melbourne

Hoddle St - Punt Rd - Barkly St. was originally designated in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as the F2 Freeway Corridor.

Part of the F2 Freeway would have connected St Kilda Junction to the Metropolitan Ring Road at the Hume Freeway (Craigieburn Bypass), via the Hoddle Highway and Merri Creek.

See also

• List of Melbourne highways