The Surfcoast Highway (and its northern section within Geelong as Torquay Road, and its southern section as Surf Coast Highway) is a semi-rural highway in Victoria,

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 ...

, connecting the city of

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

with the coastal town of

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

. The highway runs through the

Armstrong Creek Growth Area The Armstrong Creek Growth Area is a southern extension to the urban growth boundary of the metropolitan area of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It comprises parts of the localities of Grovedale and Marshall south of the Warrnambool railway line, an ...

, which is the subject of extensive residential development; closer to Torquay, tourist attractions the Narana Creations indigenous centre, Surf Coast Plaza retail centre, and the Surfworld museum are located along the highway.

Route

Torquay Road starts at the intersection with Settlement Road in

Belmont Belmont may refer to: People * Belmont (surname) Places * Belmont Abbey (disambiguation) * Belmont Historic District (disambiguation) * Belmont Hotel (disambiguation) * Belmont Park (disambiguation) * Belmont Plantation (disambiguation) * Belmon ...

and runs south as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road through the southern Geelong suburb of

Grovedale Grovedale is a southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. At the , Grovedale had a population of 14,869. History Toponymy The locality was originally named ''Germantown'' because several families of German Lutheran origin had settled th ...

and crossing the Warrnambool railway line, continuing south until it reaches the intersection of Lower Duneed Road in

Mount Duneed Mount Duneed is a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It is divided between the City of Greater Geelong and Surf Coast Shire local government areas. Mount Duneed itself is an extinct volcano and the remains of the crater can be seen in the ...

. It changes name to Surf Coast Highway and continues south, eventually running through central

, before ending at the bridge over Spring Creek, where the road continues west as the Great Ocean Road.

History

Construction to duplicate the Surfcoast Highway, 13.2km total between Grovedale and Torquay, commenced in November 1990, to aid higher traffic levels due to tourism and holidays and the growth of Torquay and neighbouring Jan Juc. Work was completed and opened in June 1993, for a total cost of $13.3 million. A link between Surfcoast Highway and the Geelong Ring Road, named Baanip Boulevard, was completed in June 2015. Surfcoast Highway was signed as State Route 100 between Grovedale and Torquay in 1986; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was updated to route B100 in 1996. 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 the road as Surfcoast Highway (Arterial #6190), beginning at Corio-Waurn Ponds Road (today Settlement Road) at

and ending at Great Ocean Road in

; this declaration formally includes today's Torquay Road, but signposts along this section have kept its original name.

Major intersections

References

{{Road infrastructure in Victoria Highways in Victoria (Australia)

Route

History

Major intersections

See also

References