Hoddle Highway is an urban highway in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

linking

CityLink CityLink is a network of tollways in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, linking the Tullamarine Freeway, Tullamarine, West Gate Freeway, West Gate and Monash Freeways and incorporating Bolte Bridge, Burnley Tunnel and other ...

and the Eastern Freeway, itself a sub-section of Hoddle Main Road. Both of these names are not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the names of its constituent parts: Hoddle Street, Punt Road and Barkly Street. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion. The highway is named after the surveyor

Robert Hoddle Robert Hoddle (21 April 1794 – 24 October 1881) was a surveyor and artist. He was the first Surveyor-General of Victoria from 1851 to 1853. He was previously the Surveyor-in-Charge of the Port Phillip District from 1837 to 1851. He became ...

, who planned central Melbourne's

Hoddle Grid The Hoddle Grid is the contemporary name given to the approximately grid of streets that form the Melbourne central business district, Australia. Bounded by Flinders Street, Spring Street, La Trobe Street, and Spencer Street, it lies at a ...

Route

Hoddle Main Road starts at the intersection with Queens Parade and High Street in

Fitzroy North Fitzroy North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Merri-bek, Merri-bek and City of Yarra, Yarra Local government areas of Victo ...

and heads south as Hoddle Street, crossing Eastern Freeway one kilometre later (and from where the Hoddle Highway declaration officially starts). It continues south until the intersection with Wellington Parade and Bridge Road, changing name to Punt Road. It continues south, passing near the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

, under Citylink in

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

, across 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 st ...

via the Hoddle Bridge through the

South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a populati ...

district to where

St Kilda Road St Kilda Road is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is part of the Melbourne central business district, locality of Melbourne which has the postcode of 3004, and along with Swanston Street forms a major spine of the city. St Kilda ...

and

Dandenong Road Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

meet at

St Kilda Junction St Kilda Junction is a major intersection in Melbourne, Australia. It is in the suburb of St Kilda, bordering Windsor and St Kilda East, and is the meeting point of the major roads Punt Road, St Kilda Road, Dandenong Road/Queens Way/Princ ...

(where the highway declaration ends). Hoddle Main Road continues south on the other side of St Kilda Junction as Barkly Street through the St Kilda city centre, to eventually terminate at

Marine Parade Marine Parade is a planning area and residential estate located on the eastern fringe of the Central Region of Singapore. Straddling the tip of the southeastern coast of Pulau Ujong, Marine Parade serves as a buffer between the Central and ...

in Elwood.

History

The elimination of the railway crossing at the Clifton Hill railway gates, where Heidelberg-Eltham Road (known today as Heidelberg Road) crossed the Hurstbridge and Whittlesea (now Mernda) railway lines and then Hoddle Street, was approved by the

Victorian government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

on 19 May 1955, instructing 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 ...

to proceed with the construction of a road overpass. The Board contracted the project to Lewis Construction Co, estimated to cost A£240,000. Work commenced in February 1956, with the southern portion open to traffic in April 1957, and the remaining sections, including the ramps leading to and from Hoddle Street, opening several weeks later in May 1957. The passing of the ''Country Roads Act of 1958'' (itself an evolution from the original ''Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924'') provided for the declaration of State Highways and Main Roads, roads partially financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board. Hoddle Main Road was declared a Main Road on 7 September 1960, from Queens Parade in

, along Hoddle Street through

, along Punt Road through

, and along Barkly Street to Elwood. Hoddle Main Road (including all its constituent roads) was signed as Metropolitan Route 29 between Fitzroy North and Elwood in 1965. The passing of the '' Transport Act of 1983'' updated the definition of State Highways. Hoddle Highway was declared a State Highway by VicRoads in September 1994 within Hoddle Main Road, from Victoria Street in

to the

in St Kilda, later extended north to the interchange with Eastern Freeway in January 1995; all roads were known (and signposted) as their constituent parts. 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 an ...

: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Hoddle Highway (Arterial #6080), beginning at the interchange of Hoddle Street with Eastern Freeway at Clifton Hill and ending at St Kilda Road (Nepean Highway) in St Kilda, while re-declaring the remnants between Clifton Hill and Elwood as Hoddle Main Road (Arterial #5880); as before, all roads are still known (and signposted) as their constituent parts.

1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan

The Hoddle Street – Punt Road – Barkly Street corridor was designated in the

1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan The 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan was a road and rail transport plan for Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia, instituted by Henry Bolte's state government. Most prominently, the plan recommended the provision of an extens ...

as the F2 Freeway. Part of the F2 Freeway would have connected

to the

Metropolitan Ring Road The M80 Ring Road (also known simply as the Ring Road or by the names of its constituent parts; the Western Ring Road and the Metropolitan Ring Road) is a partially complete urban freeway ring road around Melbourne, Australia. This article wi ...

at the

Hume Freeway The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city National Highway (Australia), national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in ...

(Craigieburn Bypass), via the Hoddle Highway and Merri Creek.

Hoddle Street Massacre

In 1987, Hoddle Street was the site of a deadly shooting spree known as the

Hoddle Street massacre The Hoddle Street massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on the evening of Sunday, 9 August 1987, in Hoddle Street, Melbourne, Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill, Victoria, Clifton Hill, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, in A ...

. The perpetrator, 19-year-old army recruit Julian Knight, killed seven people and injured 19 others during his rampage. He is currently serving seven consecutive terms of life imprisonment.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Road infrastructure in Melbourne Highways and freeways in Melbourne Streets in Melbourne Transport in the City of Melbourne (LGA) Transport in the City of Yarra Transport in the City of Port Phillip Transport in the City of Stonnington St Kilda, Victoria East Melbourne, Victoria