Mount Alexander Road

Last updated

Mount Alexander Road

Bulla Road

Victoria
North Essendon - Mt Alexander Rd.jpg
Mount Alexander Road in Essendon
Australia Victoria metropolitan Melbourne location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Northwest end
Red pog.svg
Southeast end
Coordinates
General information
TypeRoad
Length6.8 km (4.2 mi) [1]
Gazetted September 1960 [2]
Route number(s) Australian state route 37.svg Metro Route 37 (1970–present)
(Essendon North–Essendon)
Former
route number
  • Australian state route 40.svg Metro Route 40 (1965–1970)
    (Essendon North–Essendon)
  • Australian national route ALT79.svg Alt. National Route 79 (1970–1989)
  • Australian national route 79.svg National Route 79 (1955–1970)
    (Essendon–Parkville)
Major junctions
Northwest endBulla Road
Strathmore, Melbourne
 
Southeast endAustralian state route 60.svg Flemington Road
Parkville, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbs Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale

Mount Alexander Road (and its northern section as Bulla Road) is a major road in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs, connecting the northern edges of the city district to just south of Essendon Airport. [3] It was named after its original destination: the Gold Fields of Mount Alexander, now known as Castlemaine.

Contents

Route

The road starts as Bulla Road, outside the entrance to the Essendon Airport retail park, crossing Tullamarine Freeway and CityLink to the elongated roundabout where Keilor and Lincoln Roads meet in Essendon. It changes name to Mount Alexander Road and continues heading south to Moonee Ponds as a wide dual-carriageway with a plantation separating northbound and southbound traffic, until it reaches the intersection with Pascoe Vale and Ascot Vale Roads at Moonee Ponds Junction. It continues south as a four-lane single-carriageway road, sharing tram tracks along the roadway through Ascot Vale, then forming the boundary between Flemington and Travancore, before eventually crossing Moonee Ponds Creek underneath the CityLink sound-tube and arriving at the intersection with the CityLink ramps, Boundary and Flemington Roads in Parkville.

Melbourne tram route 59 runs along the majority of the road, sharing traffic lanes with motor vehicles between Flemington Road and Moonee Ponds Junction, and along reserved tracks between Fletcher Street and Keilor Road in Essendon. Essendon tram depot is also located on the road, in the suburb of Travancore.

History

Mount Alexander Road originally ran north from Flemington Road in Parkville to Pascoe Vale Road at Moonee Ponds Junction. The passing of the Country Roads Act of 1958 [4] (itself an evolution from the original Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924 [5] ) provided for the declaration of State Highways and Main Roads, roads partially financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads). A northern extension to the existing declaration of Mount Alexander Road, from Moonee Ponds Junction to the intersection with Bendigo Road (today Keilor Road) and Sunbury Road (today Bulla Road) in northern Essendon, was declared a Main Road on 7 September 1960. [2] [6]

Mount Alexander Road linked Bendigo Road (and the Calder Highway beyond) to central Melbourne, and was signed as National Route 79 between Essendon and Parkville in 1955; once the Tullamarine Freeway extension to Parkville opened in 1970 and National Route 79 was re-routed onto the new freeway, the old route was replaced with Alternative National Route 79, until it was removed in 1989. Bulla Road was allocated Metro Route 37, extended north from Lincoln Road to Tullamarine Freeway, when the Tullamarine Freeway extension opened in 1970, replacing former Metropolitan Route 40.

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 [7] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared Mount Alexander Road (Arterial #5824) from Flemington Road in Parkville to the ramps of the "Western Link Tollway" (CityLink's Western link) in Strathmore, south of Essendon Airport; [3] this declaration formally includes today's Bulla Road, but signposts along this section have kept its original name.

Major intersections

Mount Alexander Road is entirely contained within the City of Moonee Valley local government area.

Location [1] [3] km [1] miDestinationsNotes
Essendon Fields–Essendon North–Strathmore tripoint0.00.0Bulla Road – Essendon Fields Northern terminus of Metro Route 37, continues north as Bulla Road
AUS Alphanumeric Route M2.svgWestern Australia MR-SM-11.svg Tullamarine Freeway (M2 west) – Tullamarine, Melbourne Airport
AUS Alphanumeric Route M2 toll.svg CityLink (M2 east) – Docklands, Port Melbourne 		Northern terminus of Mount Alexander Road (declared)
Essendon North–Strathmore–Essendon tripoint0.80.50Woodland Street – Pascoe Vale South
Essendon North–Essendon border1.20.75Keilor Road (west) – Niddrie
Australian state route 37.svg Lincoln Road (Metro Route 37 south) – Footscray, Williamstown 		Southern terminus of Bulla Road (sign-posted), Metro Route 37 continues south along Lincoln Road
Northern terminus of Mount Alexander Road (sign-posted)
Essendon–Moonee Ponds border2.81.7Buckley Street – Keilor East, Essendon
Moonee Ponds 3.72.3Kellaway Avenue – Moonee Ponds Pascoe Vale Road northbound from Moonee Ponds Junction via Kellaway Avenue
4.02.5Puckle Street (west) – Moonee Ponds
Dean Street (east) – Moonee Ponds 		No right turn northbound into Dean Street, no right turn southbound into Puckle Street
Australian state route 35.svg Pascoe Vale Road (Metro Route 35 north) – Broadmeadows, Coolaroo
Australian state route 35.svg Ascot Vale Road (Metro Route 35 south) – Flemington, Williamstown 		No right turn northbound into Pascoe Vale Road, no left turn northbound into Ascot Vale Road
Moonee Ponds–Ascot Vale border4.72.9Australian state route 38.svg Maribyrnong Road (Metro Route 38 west) – Sunshine, Maribyrnong
Australian state route 38.svg Ormond Road (Metro Route 38 east) – Brunswick, Northcote
Flemington–Travancore border6.64.1AUS Alphanumeric Route M2 toll.svgWestern Australia MR-SM-11.svg CityLink (M2) – Tullamarine, Melbourne Airport Northbound entrance and southbound exit only
Flemington–Parkville border6.84.2Boundary Road – North Melbourne
Australian state route 60.svg Flemington Road (Metro Route 60) – City Southern terminus of Mount Alexander Road, Metro Route 60 continues south-east along Flemington Road

See also

Australia road sign W5-29.svg Australian Roadsportal

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mount Alexander Road" (Map). Google Maps . Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 7 September 1960. pp. 2977–81. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 772. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  4. ↑ http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/hist_act/cra1958182.pdf State of Victoria, An Act to consolidate the Law relating to Country Roads 30 September 1958
  5. ↑ 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
  6. ↑ "Country Roads Board Victoria. Forty-Seventh Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1960". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 21 November 1960. pp. 9–10.
  7. ↑ 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.
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