Old Princes Highway is a collection of roads, described as any part of an earlier route designated as

Princes Highway 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 ...

, located in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia. Sections of the road run through

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

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the local government area of the City of Wyndham. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werrib ...

, and through the outer fringes of south-eastern Melbourne eventually to Morwell East. In the time since their de-listing as Princes Highway, many former sections have since been renamed, or have devolved to their original names.

Route

West

Princes Highway (West) runs from the interstate border with South Australia through western Victoria all the way to the western suburbs of Melbourne, with some towns along this route later bypassed. Old Princes Highway, consisting of former sections of Princes Highway, include: through greater

(from Waurn Ponds to Corio), bypassed by

Geelong Ring Road The Geelong Ring Road (formerly known as the Geelong Bypass and the Geelong Outer Freeway, officially part of Princes Freeway West) is a freeway ring road in Australia beside Geelong's western suburbs from the Princes Freeway at Corio to the P ...

and now allocated route A10; and through Werribee (from Cocoroc to Hoppers Crossing), bypassed by Maltby Bypass and now allocated route C109. One last section runs through western suburban Melbourne, from the interchange with

West Gate Freeway The West Gate Freeway is a major freeway in Melbourne, the busiest urban freeway and the busiest road in Australia, carrying upwards of 200,000 vehicles per day. It links Geelong (via the Princes Freeway) and Melbourne's western suburbs to ...

and

Western 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 ...

in Laverton North to Flemington, signposted as both Princes Highway and Geelong Road, but this is still officially gazetted as Princes Highway (West), and the former alignment through central Melbourne was eventually re-declared as their own separate constituent parts.

East

Princes Highway (East) runs from central Melbourne through eastern Victoria all the way to the interstate border with New South Wales, with many of the towns along this route, particularly through Gippsland, later bypassed by sections of

Princes Freeway Princes Freeway is a Australian freeway, divided into two sections, both located in Victoria, Australia. The freeway links Melbourne to Geelong in the west, and to Morwell in the east. It continues beyond these extremities as the Princes ...

. This first section runs through south-eastern suburban Melbourne, from the intersection with

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

and Flinders Streets in the

Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (colloquially known as "the City" or "the CBD", and gazetted simply as Melbourne) is the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. As of the 2021 census, the CBD had a population of 54,941, and is ...

to the interchange with Monash and

s in Narre Warren, signposted as both Princes Highway and Dandenong Road, but is still officially gazetted as Princes Highway (East). Old Princes Highway includes: from Berwick through Beaconsfield and Pakenham to Nar Nar Goon and now allocated route C101; through Drouin and Warragul and more commonly known as Princes Way, now allocated route C102; through Moe and Newborough (along what is now Lloyd Street and Narracan Drive) as route C103, then descending into the La Trobe Valley through the Haunted Hills, along what is now Haunted Hills Road, passed almost due west through what is now the Yallourn Open Cut Mine to join today's Morwell Bridge Road at the Morwell River, and from there, through Morwell along what is now Princes Drive and now allocated route C104. The first improvements to the route came in the late 1950s when the expansion of the Yallourn open cut necessitated the relocation of the highway. The CRB took this opportunity to provide a high standard access-controlled alignment as well as a bypass of Moe. The first section of the new highway opened in 1959/60 as a single carriageway super-2 expressway between Hernes Oak and the Morwell River. Following in December 1964 was a westerly extension of the super-2 highway from Hernes Oak to Gunns Gully (Newborough) and the Moe Bypass completed the new route - opening in early 1967. The section between Gunns Gully and Hernes Oak inherited the "Haunted Hills" nickname that applied to the original highway between Newborough and Hernes Oak. Duplication of the Moe-Morwell section was commenced after the opening of the Moe Bypass and completed west to Gunns Gully in 1971 and to the western side of Moe in 1979. It is anticipated that with the future completion of the Traralgon bypass that a new section of the highway will become superseded from the original Highway 1.

History

As a named route, the highway came into being when pre-existing roads were renamed Prince's Highway after the planned visit to Australia by the Prince of Wales (later to become king

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...

and, after abdicating, the Duke of Windsor) in 1920. The original submissions in January 1920 were in order for the Prince to have the opportunity during his visit to make the trip from Melbourne to Sydney overland along the route. That idea never came to fruition, but the prince did give his permission for the naming. The Victorian section of the highway had an opening ceremony when the first section of road from Melbourne was opened on 10 August 1920 in

Warragul Warragul () is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of ...

. Approval was later given by the Victorian executive in January 1922 to extend the highway west from Melbourne through Geelong, Camperdown, Warrnambool and Portland to the South Australian border. The passing of the ''Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924''State of Victoria, ''An Act to make further provision with respect to Highways and Country Roads Motor Cars and Traction Engines and for other purposes'' 30 December 1924
/ref> 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 declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through 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 ...

). Prince's Highway was declared a State Highway on 1 July 1925, traversing the whole length of the State from its western boundary near Mount Gambier in South Australia, through Port Fairy, Warrnambool, Geelong to Melbourne, through Dandenong, Warragul, Sale, Bairnsdale and Orbost to the eastern boundary of the state towards Eden in New South Wales (for a total of 540 miles). The passing of the ''Road Management Act 2004'' through the

granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to

: VicRoads re-declared the road in 2010 as Princes Highway West (Arterial #6500), beginning at the state border with South Australia to Geelong, then from Altona North to Parkville; and in 2008 as Princes Highway East (Arterial #6510), beginning at the Melbourne CBD to Narre Warren, then through Yarragon, Trafalgar and Morwell, the from Morwell to the state border with New South Wales. Portions of both the western and eastern section of Princes Highway have further devolved with their own classification and names: the section through Geelong (from Waurn Ponds to Corio) was re-declared in 2012 as Corio–Waurn Ponds Road (Arterial #6800) (following the opening of

); the section through Werribee (from Cocoroc to Hoppers Crossing) was re-declared in 2004 as Werribee Main Road (Arterial #5445); the section through outer south-eastern Melbourne (from Berwick to Nar Nar Goon) was re-declared in 2004 as Berwick-Beaconsfield Road (Arterial #5163) and in 2007 as Beaconsfield-Nar Nar Goon Road (Arterial #6460); the section through Drouin and Warragul (signposted as Princes Way) was re-declared in 2004 as Drouin–Warragul Road (Arterial #5594); the section through Moe (signposted as Lloyd Street and Narracan Drive) was re-declared in 2004 as part of Moe-Glengarry Road (Arterial #5539); and the section through Morwell (signposted as Princes Drive) was re-declared in 2004 as part of Morwell-Traralgon Road (Arterial #5921). The former alignment of Princes Highway through central Melbourne from Parkville to the southern border of the CBD – along Flemington Road (Arterial #5044), Harker Street (Arterial #5026), Curzon Street (Arterial #5027), and King Street (Arterial #5041), – devolved back to their own identities in 2004, no longer part of Princes Highway but not referenced as Old Princes Highway.

Former route numbers

Old Princes Highway has many former route allocations including former National Route 1; its routing through Melbourne and along present sections of Princes Highway have been included for sake of completion. Where and when the former route numbers were implemented are stated below. ''through Waurn Ponds:'' * National Route 1 * A1 *unallocated: ''Waurn Ponds – Corio:'' * National Route 1 * M1 * A10 ''Cocoroc – Hoppers Crossing:'' * National Route 1 *unallocated: * C109 ''Brooklyn – North Melbourne:'' * National Route 1 * Alt National Route 1 * Metro Route 83 ''North Melbourne – Parkville:'' * National Route 1 * Alt National Route 1 * National Route 79 * Metro Route 60 ''Parkville – Hallam:'' * National Route 1 * Alt National Route 1 ''Hallam – Narre Warren:'' * National Route 1 * M1 * Alt National Route 1 ''Berwick – Beaconsfield:'' * National Route 1 *unallocated: * C101 ''Beaconsfield – Nar Nar Goon:'' * National Route 1 * M1 * C101 ''Drouin – Nilma:'' * National Route 1 *unallocated: * C102 ''Moe – Newborough:'' * National Route 1 *unallocated: * C103 ''Morwell – East Morwell:'' * National Route 1 *unallocated: * C104

Major intersections

Waurn Ponds–Corio

Cocoroc–Hoppers Crossing

This section is entirely contained within the

City of Wyndham The City of Wyndham is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the outer south-western suburbs of Melbourne, within the Melbourne Metropolitan Area, between Melbourne and the regional city of Geelong. It has an area of . The city had a ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

Laverton North–Southbank

Southbank–Narre Warren

Berwick–Nar Nar Goon

Drouin–Nilma

Moe–Newborough

Morwell

Gallery

File:Officer06-01-08.jpg, Old Princes Highway, Officer File:Beaconsfield06-01-08.jpg, Old Princes Highway, Beaconsfield File:Beaconsfield Victoria by Old Princes Highway.jpg, Old Princes Highway, Beaconsfield File:Queens Way W from near Chapel St.jpg, Old Princes Highway, Windsor File:Princes Highway between St Kilda and Windsor looking west.jpg, Old Princes Highway, St Kilda File:South Melbourne VIC 3205, Australia - panoramio (11).jpg, Old Princes Highway, South Melbourne

References