Bridge Road is a major shopping strip in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is best known for its abundance of restaurants, cafes and shopping, which makes it a popular tourist attraction. The Richmond Town Hall and

Epworth Hospital Epworth HealthCare is a provider of acute medical, surgical and rehabilitation services in Melbourne, Australia. The group has four divisions: Epworth Richmond, Epworth Eastern, Epworth Cliveden, Epworth Freemasons and Epworth Geelong Epwo ...

are amongst the landmarks of Bridge Road.

Route

Bridge Road begins at the intersection with Wellington Parade,

Hoddle Street Hoddle Highway is an urban highway in Melbourne linking CityLink and the Eastern Freeway, itself a sub-section of Hoddle Main Road. Both these names are not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the n ...

and

Punt Road Hoddle Highway is an urban highway in Melbourne linking CityLink and the Eastern Freeway, itself a sub-section of Hoddle Main Road. Both these names are not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the n ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

and runs east through RIchmond as a four-lane, single-carriageway road for just over two kilometres, sharing surface tram tracks, until it crosses Church Street and widens slightly to allow trams a dedicated median in the centre of the road, then passes Richmond Town Hall. The road narrows back again to share tram tracks again just before its intersection with Yarra Boulevard, before crossing the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stre ...

over the

Hawthorn Bridge The Hawthorn Bridge crosses the Yarra River, east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, connecting Bridge Road and Burwood Road. It is the oldest extant bridge over the Yarra River and is one of the oldest metal bridges in Australia. It was con ...

to its fork into Church Street and Burwood Road on the other side of the river. Tram routes 48 and 75 pass along the entire length of Bridge Road.

History

Bridge Road is classified as a heritage area as its history dates back to 1837, two years after the European settlement of the

colony of Victoria In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

. The first land sales in the area took place on August 1, 1839. Historical plaques are placed on many buildings and provide a glimpse into the development of Bridge Road. The majority of the existing 19th-century buildings in Bridge Road are shops which date from the 1870s and 1880s. The horse-drawn omnibuses which brought shoppers to the area were replaced by cable trams in 1885, which in turn were replaced by an electrified tram service in 1916. Shortly afterwards Cinema Richmond opened in 1919 adjacent to the Town Hall. Bridge Road was signed as Metropolitan Route 30 between Richmond and Hawthorn in 1965, sharing a short concurrency with Tourist Route 2 over the Hawthorn Bridge from 1989. The passing of the ''Road Management Act 2004'' granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to

VicRoads VicRoads is a government joint venture in the state of Victoria, Australia. In the state, it is responsible for driver licensing and vehicle registration. It is owned and operated through a joint venture between the Victorian government and a c ...

: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared Bridge Road (Arterial #5285) to begin from the

Hoddle Highway Hoddle Highway is an urban highway in Melbourne linking CityLink and the Eastern Freeway, itself a sub-section of Hoddle Main Road. Both these names are not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the n ...

(Hoddle Street and Punt Road) intersection in

and end at Burwood Road in

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

References

External links

* http://www.bridgerd.com.au Streets in Melbourne Shopping districts and streets in Australia Transport in the City of Yarra Transport in the City of Boroondara {{Australia-road-stub

Route

History

See also

References

External links