Thompson Road (and its western section as McLeod Road, and its eastern section as Thompsons Road) is a major urban arterial road in the south-eastern suburbs of

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 ...

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Route

The road starts as McLeod Road from its intersection with Nepean Highway at

Carrum Carrum is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston Local Government Areas of Victoria, local government ar ...

, immediately crossing under the Frankston railway line and heading east as a two-lane, single-carriageway road through Patterson Lakes; at the intersection with MacLeod Road and Schooner Bay Drive, the name changes to Thompson Road and continues east as a four-lane, single-carriageway road to cross over

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 ...

, before widening into a four-lane, dual-carriageway road, crossing EastLink to meet Frankston-Dandenong Road at Carrum Downs. The name changes for the last time to Thompsons Road and continues east through Lyndhurst and Cranbourne, crosses over Berwick–Cranbourne Road and Bells Road in Clyde North, to eventually terminate at Smiths Lane just beyond Soldiers Road in Clyde North.

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; the later passing of the ''Developmental Roads Act of 1918'' allowed the Country Road Board to declare Developmental Roads, serving to develop any area of land by providing access to a railway station for primary producers. Thompson Road from Wells Road in

to Dandenong-Frankston Road in Lyndhurst was declared a Developmental Road on 1 July 1919. McLeod Road originally terminated at Wells Road 500m south to Thompson Road's current alignment over the Mornington Peninsula Freeway; Thompson Road also terminated at Wells Road 100m north of the current bridge. Both roads were connected along their current alignment due to the construction of its interchange with the freeway (and consequent subsuming of Wells Road into it) when it opened in 1980. Thompson Road was signed as Metropolitan Route 6 between Carrum and Clyde North in 1989. The passing of the ''Road Management Act 2004'' granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared Thompson Road (Arterial #5164) from

Nepean Highway Nepean Highway is a major highway in Victoria, running south from St Kilda Junction in inner-southern Melbourne to Portsea, tracing close to the eastern shore of Port Phillip for the majority of its length. It is the primary road route from ...

to Berwick–Cranbourne Road in Clyde North;, with the road undeclared east of Berwick-Cranbourne Road; this declaration formally includes today's McLeod Road and Thompsons Road, but signposts along these sections have kept their original names.

Duplication Projects

Thompsons Road duplication, Carrum Downs

This is a $31 million state government-funded project to widen Thompsons Road in Carrum Downs. Works involve widening to provide two lanes in each direction from east of Mornington Peninsula Freeway to EastLink, and three lanes in each direction between EastLink and Dandenong-Frankston Road. Construction started in mid-2008. The works are 4 km long.

Thompsons Road duplication, Cranbourne

This is a $22 million state government-funded project to widen Thompsons Road in Cranbourne. Works involve widening the road to three lanes in each direction between Lesdon Avenue and Rosebank Drive and two lanes in each direction between Rosebank Drive and Narre Warren–Cranbourne Road. Completed in late 2009. The works are 1.7 km long.

Thompsons Road duplication, Carrum Downs to Cranbourne

Construction started in December 2016 on a $175 million state government-funded project to widen the 6.5 km section of Thompsons Road between Carrum Downs and Cranbourne. Works involve construction of a new bridge over the Cranbourne railway line, and widening the road to three lanes in each direction between Frankston-Dandenong Road and McCormicks Road and between Western Port Highway and South Gippsland Highway, and two lanes in each direction between McCormicks Road and Western Port Highway. The project was completed in mid-2019, with traffic lights installed at the Frankston-Dandenong Road intersection a year later in July 2020.

Thompsons Road duplication, Cranbourne East

Thompsons Road Extension

A $785 million project has been proposed to extend Thompsons Road east to Koo Wee Rup Road in Pakenham.

Major intersections

References

{{Road infrastructure in Melbourne Streets in Melbourne Highways and freeways in Melbourne Transport in the City of Kingston (Victoria) Transport in the City of Greater Dandenong Transport in the City of Frankston Transport in the City of Casey