Bass Highway is an 87 kilometre highway in

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

, running along the coasts of

Western Port Western Port, ( Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in the state. Geographically, it ...

and

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

, between

Lang Lang Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with major orchestras around the world and appeared at many leading concert halls. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Phi ...

and

Leongatha Leongatha () is a town in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, South Gippsland Shire, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located south-east of Melbourne. At the , Leongatha had a population of 5,869. Canadian dairy company Saputo In ...

via

Wonthaggi Wonthaggi is a town located south east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland Highway, South Gippsland and Bass Highway, Victoria, Bass highways, in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Known originally f ...

. A good portion of the highway serves as a gateway from Melbourne to

Phillip Island Phillip Island (Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The island is named after Arthur Phillip, Governor Arthur P ...

. It was named due to its proximity to

Route

Bass Highway commences at the interchange with

South Gippsland Highway South Gippsland Highway is a partially divided highway connecting the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne through the South Gippsland region of in Victoria, Australia to the town of Sale. The highway serves as a gateway from Melbourne to man ...

and heads in a southerly direction as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road along the eastern coast of

Western Port Bay Western Port, (Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large Tide, tidal bay in southern Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second lar ...

, through Grantville, to the turn-off to

) at

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

. Bass Highway then narrows to a two-lane, single carriageway semi-rural highway, continuing in a south and then south-easterly direction along the

coast through

to Inverloch, before turning north-easterly to eventually terminate at the intersection with South Gippsland Highway and Strzelecki Highway at

History

The passing of the ''Country Roads Act of 1912'' through the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria that follows a Westminster System, Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the Monarchy in Australia, King, represent ...

provided for the establishment of the

Country Roads Board The Country Roads Board was a government authority responsible for the construction and maintenance of main roads in the state of Victoria, Australia between 1913 and 1983. History The Country Roads Board (CRB) was formed to take over respon ...

(later

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 an ...

) and their ability to declare Main Roads, taking responsibility for the management, construction and care of the state's major roads from local municipalities. Inverloch-Leongatha Road from Inverloch to

, and Inverloch-Wonthaggi Road from Inverloch to

, were declared Main Roads on 10 November 1913, (Main) Coast Road from

to Anderson (and continuing west to San Remo), was declared a Main Road on 7 September 1914, and Dalyston-Wonthaggi Road from

Dalyston Dalyston is a town located south east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland and Bass Highways, in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Known originally as a train station at Powlett River near Wonthaggi, it is now the locat ...

was declared a Main Road on 25 August 1919. The passing of the ''Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924'' through the

provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board. Bass Highway was declared a State Highway in the 1947/48 financial year, from

near Nyora via Anderson and Dalyston to Wonthaggi (for a total of 30 miles), subsuming the original declarations of (Main) Coast Road and Dalyston-Wonthaggi Road as Main Roads; before this declaration, the roads were also referred to as Anderson–Dalyston Road. In the 1959/60 financial year, its eastern end was extended from Wonthaggi to Inverloch, subsuming the original declaration of Inverloch-Wonthaggi Road as a Main Road. The passing of the '' Transport Act of 1983''''An Act to Re-enact with Amendments the Law relating to Transport including the Law with respect to Railways, Roads and Tramways...''
State of Victoria, 23 June 1983 updated the definition of State Highways; the highway was extended east one last time from Inverloch to

in December 1990, subsuming the original declaration of Inverloch-Leongatha Road as a Main Road and completing its present-day alignment at this stage. Bass Highway was signed as State Route 181 between Lang Lang and Wonthaggi in 1986, later extended with the road to Leongatha in 1990. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was replaced by route M420 between Lang Lang and Grantville, A420 between Grantville and the Phillip Island turn-off at Anderson, and B460 between Anderson and Leongatha. A duplication project improving the quality of the road upgraded the A420 allocation to M420 in 2013, now running the entire way between Lang Lang and a new link road to Phillip Island in south-western Bass. The passing of the ''Road Management Act 2004'' granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to

: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Bass Highway (Arterial #6710) between

and

Duplication towards Phillip Island

A project to duplicate Bass Highway from Lang Lang to Bass (east of Phillip Island) commenced in the late 1990s, addressing the high traffic demand of the route and recent crash history. It was constructed in seven stages, with Stage 7 of the project from Woolmer Road to Phillip Island Road completed in 2013. The benefits of this project include: *reduced travel times to Phillip Island which hosts some of Victoria's favourite tourist and sporting attractions *eliminating use of the roundabout at Anderson, and providing a direct route between Melbourne and Phillip Island *bypassing a winding section of Phillip Island Road and providing two added lanes along Bass Highway. This will help address the crash history in this area. There have been 13 crashes in a recent five-year period. *an overpass, which will be constructed near Netherwood will provide smoother and safer movements at the connection of the Bass Highway and the new link road, for Phillip Island and Wonthaggi-bound traffic *helping traffic to exit Phillip Island after major events such as the

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

The project was completed in 2013.
Bass Highway Duplication – Lang Lang to Anderson , ''VicRoads''. Retrieved on 8 September 2013.

Route

History

Duplication towards Phillip Island

Major intersections

References

See also