State (Bell/Springvale) Highway, also known as Bell Street/Springvale Road State Highway (after its longest constituent parts), is the longest self-contained 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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, 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

Mornington Peninsula Freeway The Mornington Peninsula Freeway is a freeway 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 th ...

through Melbourne's north-eastern suburbs. 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 (some of which are only contiguous with the highway for a small section): Bell Street, Banksia Street, Manningham Road, Williamsons Road, Doncaster Road, Mitcham Road and Springvale Road. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completeness.

Route

Looking eastbound on Bell Street in Coburg

Bell Street (and the beginning of the north-western section of the highway) starts at the interchange with

Pascoe Vale South Pascoe Vale South is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Merri-bek local government area. Pascoe Vale South recorded a population of 10,534 at the 2021 ...

and heads east as a four-lane, single-carriageway road to

Sydney Road Sydney Road (in its northernmost part also known as the Hume Highway) is a major urban arterial in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Geography Sydney Road starts at the northern end of Royal Parade at the boundary of Par ...

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

, then widening to a dual-carriageway road varying between 4 and 6 lanes through Preston, then along Bell-Banksia Link to Banksia Street through

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

to 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 ...

. As Manningham Road, it continues east past

Bulleen Road Bulleen Road is a 4 kilometre long road in north-eastern Melbourne, Australia serving the suburbs of Bulleen and Balwyn North, which can be seen as an alternative thoroughfare between Heidelberg and Doncaster via the Eastern Freeway. Since t ...

(where the north-western section of the highway ends) through

Bulleen Bulleen ( ) is an eastern suburb in Melbourne, Australia, 13 km north-east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Bulleen recorded a population of 11,219 at the 2021 census. ...

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, where it becomes Williamsons Road, then continues east along Doncaster and Mitcham Roads through Doncaster East. At the northern edge of Donvale it intersects with and changes name to Springvale Road, where it heads south over the Eastern Freeway/ EastLink interchange (where the beginning of the south-eastern section of the highway starts) and continues south through

Nunawading Nunawading () is an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km (11 miles) east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Whitehorse and City of Manningham local government areas. Nunawading recorded ...

, Glen Waverley, Mulgrave and Springvale, where the south-eastern section of the highway eventually terminates at the interchange with

in Chelsea Heights (Springvale Road continues southwards to Edithvale). Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Doncaster Road section carried around 50,000 vehicles per hour at peak, but this number dropped in 1997 after the extension of the Eastern Freeway. Many junctions with

, Eastern Freeway,

Monash Freeway The Monash Freeway is a major urban freeway in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, linking Melbourne's CBD to its south-eastern suburbs and beyond to the Gippsland region. It carries up to 180,000 vehicles per day and is one of Australi ...

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 ...

, and

contribute to large traffic volumes along the corridor.

History

The passing of the ''Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924'' 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 and Main Roads, roads partially 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 ...

). Bell Street was declared a Main Road in August 1947, heading west from Main Heidelberg-Eltham Road (today Rosanna Road) along Burgundy and then Bell Streets in

through Preston and

Moonee Ponds Creek The Moonee Ponds Creek is a creek and major tributary of the Yarra River running through urban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from northern to inner suburbs. In 2004 a reporter for ''The Age'' described it as "arguably the most abused tributar ...

. This was extended further west via a new bridge over Moonee Ponds Creek to connect directly to the Tullamarine Freeway extension and

Pascoe Vale Road Pascoe Vale Road is a major thoroughfare through the northern suburbs of Melbourne, connecting the outer northern fringe to the inner northern suburbs. Route Pascoe Vale Road starts at the intersection with Somerton Road in Coolaroo, Victoria ...

when it opened in 1970 (plans to do so had existed since 1950). After the passing of the ''Country Roads Act of 1958'' (itself an evolution from the original ''Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924''), Heidelberg-Doncaster Road (from Rosanna Road in Heidelberg heading east across Manningham Road and Williamsons Road to Doncaster Road in Doncaster) and Doncaster-Mitcham Road (from Williamsons Road in Doncaster heading east along Doncaster Road and Mitcham Road to Mitcham)) were declared Main Roads by the Country Roads Board on 7 September 1960, but were sign-posted as their constituent parts. The entire route was declared a State Highway in June 1983, between

Tullamarine Freeway The Tullamarine Freeway (commonly referred to as The Tulla), is a major urban freeway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, linking Melbourne Airport to the Melbourne City Centre. It carries up to 210,000 vehicles per day and is one of Australia ...

and

in Chelsea Heights (unusually referred to as "Unnamed" in reports at the time, but named Bell Street/Springvale Road State Highway three years later), subsuming previous declarations of Bell Street, Heidelberg-Doncaster Road and Doncaster Mitcham Roads as Main Roads, and still sign-posted as its constituent parts. Work on the direct link between Bell and Banksia Streets (the "Bell-Banksia Link") in western Heidelberg, built to relieve traffic congestion and improve safety around the Burgundy Street shopping precinct, started in December 1988 and was completed on 1 July 1992, at a total cost of $40 million. Bell Street was signed as Metropolitan Route 40 between Pascoe Vale South and Heidelberg in 1965, heading south at its western end along Reynolds Parade and Woodland Street to reach Lancefield Road: this was re-routed via Tullamarine Freeway in 1970. The south-eastern end of Metropolitan Route 40 was later re-routed to run across the entire corridor to Edithvale, replacing Metropolitan Route 11, in 1989, with an adjustment running from Burgundy, Jika and Dora Streets to the Bell-Banksia Link (and Banksia Street) through Heidelberg when it opened in 1992. 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 State (Bell/Springvale) Highway (Arterial #6400) in two sections: the north-western section between Hackett Street (just before the interchange with

) in

and Bulleen Highway (

) in

; the south-eastern section between Eastern Freeway in Donvale and

in Chelsea Heights, while downgrading the remaining roads within the corridor as Main Roads: Manningham Road (Arterial #5221), Williamsons Road (Arterial #5225), Doncaster Road (Arterial #5805), Mitcham Road (Arterial #5804), and the remnants of Springvale Road (Arterial #5797), with the former alignment along Burgundy Street declared as Bell Street Road (Arterial #5818). Regardless of official declarations, all roads along the corridor are still presently known (and signposted) as their constituent parts.

1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan

The original

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 ...

showed the F4 Freeway following the Tullamarine Freeway, Bell and Banksia Streets, to Williamsons Road then joining the F7 Freeway heading south along the Middleborough Road and the Blackburn Road corridor to the F2 Freeway (Dingley Freeway) between Clayton and Westall Roads (rather than Springvale Road).

Level crossing removal

In January 2010, rail tracks in

were lowered below-ground as part of a level-crossing elimination project. A similar project was undertaken in Springvale in May 2014. Under the

Level Crossing Removal Project The Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) is an infrastructure upgrade project by the Government of Victoria, Australia, to remove and grade-separate 110 level crossings and to rebuild 51 railway stations on the metropolitan and regional r ...

, the level crossing at Edithvale was removed in November 2021 and the level crossing at

Bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

was removed in May 2022.

Major intersections

References