Great Alpine Road

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Great Alpine Road

Great Alpine Road Victoria map.svg
Coordinates
General information
TypeHighway
Length303.7 km (189 mi) [1]
Gazetted November 1914 (as Main Road) [2]
1947/48 (as State Highway) [3]
Route number(s) AUS Alphanumeric Route B500.svg B500 (1996–present)
Former
route number
  • Australian state route 156.svg State Route 156 (1986–1996)
    (Wangaratta–Omeo)
  • Australian state route 195.svg State Route 195 (1986–1996)
    (Omeo–Bairnsdale)
Major junctions
Northwest endAUS Alphanumeric Route C314.svg Wangaratta Road
Wangaratta, Victoria
 
Southeast endAUS Alphanumeric Route A1.svg Princes Highway
Bairnsdale, Victoria
Location(s)
Major settlements Myrtleford, Ovens, Eurobin, Bright, Harrietville, Mount Hotham, Dinner Plain, Omeo, Swifts Creek, Ensay, Bruthen
Highway system

The Great Alpine Road is a country tourist road in Victoria, Australia, running from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, passing through the Victorian Alps. [4] The road was given its current name because it was considered the mountain equivalent to Victoria's world-famous Great Ocean Road in the south-west of the state.[ citation needed ] The road usually remains open during winter; however, vehicles travelling between Harrietville and Omeo are required to carry diamond-pattern [5] snow chains during the declared snow season. [6]

Contents

Route

The Great Alpine Road [7] links Wangaratta with Bairnsdale, winding through mountains, valleys and forests, and past rivers, vineyards and farms. At a length of 304 kilometres (189 mi), it is Australia's highest year-round accessible sealed road. The section over Mount Hotham rises to an altitude of 1,840 metres (6,040 ft) AMSL. [8] It is blanketed with snow during winter months and must be cleared on a daily basis. Extreme weather conditions can sometimes still result in the road being closed between Harrietville and Omeo.

The road itself has existed since colonial times in some form, but was unsealed for much of its history; its last portions were sealed between Slatey Cutting and Dinner Plain in the 1996–97 financial year (when the road was renamed the Great Alpine Road), [9] and the 12 km between Dinner Plain and Horsehair Plain in the 1997–98 financial year. [10]

History

The passing of the Country Roads Act of 1912 [11] through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the establishment of the Country Roads Board (CRB, later VicRoads) and their ability to declare Main Roads, taking responsibility for the management, construction and care of the state's major roads from local municipalities. Bright Road from Myrtleford to Bright, and Harrietville Road from Bright to Harrietville, were declared Main Roads on 16 November 1914. [2]

In 1923, the CRB took responsibility for the Alpine Road between Harrietville and Omeo, and appointed William Benjamin (Bill) Spargo (1888–1959) as supervisor. [12] He lived in a stone cottage at Hotham Heights, which the CRB expanded, at his request, to accommodate up to twenty visiting skiers. From 1925, the premises operated as a guesthouse, Hotham Cottage (Hotham Heights Chalet). This was the forerunner of the Hotham Alpine Resort.

The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924 [13] provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board. Ovens Highway was declared a State Highway within Victoria in the 1947/48 financial year, [3] from Wangaratta via Myrtleford to Bright (for a total of 47.5 miles), subsuming the original declarations of Bright Road and Harrietville Road as Main Roads; before this declaration, the road was also referred to as (The) Alpine Road. [14] The highway was eventually extended from Bright further along Alpine Road to Harrietville in September 1993. [15]

Ovens Highway and Alpine Road, from Wangaratta to Omeo, along with the southern section of Omeo Highway from Omeo via Bruthen [16] to Bairnsdale, was renamed the Great Alpine Road in late 1996; [9] the southern terminus of Omeo Highway was truncated to Omeo as a result.

Ovens Highway, and the remainder of Alpine Road beyond, was signed as State Route 156 between Wangaratta and Omeo in 1986; Omeo Highway was signed as State Route 195. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, and with its recent declaration as Great Alpine Road, its former route numbers were replaced with route B500 in late 1996. [9]

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 [17] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Great Alpine Road (Arterial #4005), beginning at Wangaratta Road at Wangaratta and ending at Princes Highway in Bairnsdale. [4]

Major intersections, towns and resorts

LGALocation [1] [4] km [1] miDestinationsNotes
Wangaratta Wangaratta 0.00.0AUS Alphanumeric Route C314.svg Wangaratta Road   Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Wodonga Northwestern terminus of road and route B500
East Wangaratta4.22.6AUS Alphanumeric Route M31.svg Hume Highway   Seymour, Wodonga, Melbourne
Tarrawingee 11.06.8AUS Alphanumeric Route C315.svg Beechworth–Wangaratta Road (C315)  Beechworth, Yackandandah
Bowmans Forest33.720.9AUS Alphanumeric Route C524.svg Buckland Gap Road (C524)  Beechworth
Alpine Gapsted 39.424.5AUS Alphanumeric Route C522.svg Snow Road  Milawa, Glenrowan
Myrtleford 44.827.8AUS Alphanumeric Route C527.svg Myrtleford–Yackandandah Road (C527)  Yackandandah
45.228.1AUS Alphanumeric Route C526.svg Buffalo River Road (C526) – Lake Buffalo
Ovens 50.131.1AUS Alphanumeric Route C534.svg Happy Valley Road (C534)  Mount Beauty
Porepunkah 69.943.4AUS Alphanumeric Route C535.svg Mount Buffalo Road (C535) – Mount Buffalo Roundabout
Bright 75.747.0Anderson Street  Bright,
to Morses Creek Road  Wandiligong
Germantown81.350.5AUS Alphanumeric Route C536.svg Tawonga Gap Road (C536)  Mount Beauty
Harrietville 100.762.6Mill Road  Harrietville
Hotham Heights121.075.2Dargo High Plains Road  Dargo, Bairnsdale Summer season only road
Mount Hotham 132.482.3Davenport Drive – Mount Hotham
Dinner Plain 142.288.4Horseshoe Circuit  Dinner Plain
Cobungra152.594.8Western Australia MR-SM-11.svg Mount Hotham Airport Road – Mount Hotham Airport
East Gippsland Omeo 182.7113.5Cassilis Road  Cassilis
186.3115.8AUS Alphanumeric Route C543.svg Omeo Highway (C543)  Benambra, Tallangatta
Swifts Creek 211.9131.7Cassilis Road  Cassilis
Ensay 230.9143.5Ensay-Doctors Flat Road  Ensay
Bruthen 281.2174.7AUS Alphanumeric Route C620.svg Bruthen–Nowa Nowa Road (C620)  Buchan, Orbost
Wiseleigh284.5176.8AUS Alphanumeric Route C605.svg Sarsfield–Tambo Upper Road (C605)  Swan Reach
Lucknow 303.7188.7AUS Alphanumeric Route A1.svg Princes Highway (A1)  Lakes Entrance, Orbost, Bairnsdale, Melbourne Southeastern terminus of road and route B500 at roundabout
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
  •        Route transition

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Great Alpine Road" (Map). Google Maps . Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 25 November 1914. p. 5287. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  3. 1 2 "Country Roads Board Victoria. Thirty-Fifth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1948". Country Roads Board . Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 1 November 1948. p. 7.
  4. 1 2 3 VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads 2024". Government of Victoria. p. 58. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  5. Mount Hotham, Wheel Chains
  6. Travel Victoria, Great Alpine Road
  7. "Great Alpine Road". Tourism Victoria. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  8. "Mt Hotham Section". Google Maps. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  9. 1 2 3 "VicRoads Annual Report 1996–97". VicRoads . Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 27 August 1997. pp. 17, 24.
  10. "VicRoads Annual Report 1997–98". VicRoads . Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 31 August 1998. p. 36.
  11. An Act relating to Country Roads State of Victoria, 23 December 1912
  12. Garden, Donald S (2002). "Spargo, William Benjamin (Bill) (1888–1959)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  13. An Act to make further provision with respect to Highways and Country Roads Motor Cars and Traction Engines and for other purposes State of Victoria, 30 December 1924
  14. "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twenty-Sixth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1939". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 10 November 1939. p. 105.
  15. "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 2 September 1993. p. 2458. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  16. 8423 Omeo, Victoria, Topographic Map. National Topographic Map Series (1 ed.). Commonwealth of Australia. 1982.
  17. State Government of Victoria. "Road Management Act 2004" (PDF). Government of Victoria. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.

"Great Alpine Road – Tourism Victoria" . Retrieved 21 July 2011.
"Australian Traveller" . Retrieved 10 February 2009.
"Great Alpine Road – Visit Victoria (official tourism website)" . Retrieved 20 June 2015.
"Sydney – Melbourne Touring". Archived from the original on 23 February 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
"Victoria's Alpine High Country" . Retrieved 10 February 2009.
"NRMA Motoring Services" . Retrieved 10 February 2009.
"Discover East Gippsland". Archived from the original on 25 April 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2009.