Great Alpine Road | |
---|---|
Map of the Great Alpine Road in eastern Victoria | |
General information | |
Type | Highway |
Length | 304 km (189 mi) [1] |
Opened | 1923 (as Alpine Road) 1948 (as Ovens Highway) 1996 (as Great Alpine Road) |
Route number(s) | B500 (1996–present) |
Former route number |
|
Major junctions | |
Northwest end | Old Hume Highway Wangaratta, Victoria |
| |
Southeast end | Princes Highway Bairnsdale, Victoria |
Location(s) | |
Major settlements | Myrtleford, Ovens, Bright, Harrietville, Mount Hotham, Dinner Plain, Omeo, Swifts Creek, Ensay}, Bruthen |
Highway system | |
The Great Alpine Road (B500) [2] [3] is a country tourist road in Victoria, Australia, running from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, and passing through the Victorian Alps. 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 [4] snow chains during the declared snow season. [5]
The Great Alpine Road [6] links Victoria's North East with Gippsland, 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. [7] 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), [8] and the 12km between Dinner Plain and Horsehair Plain in the 1997–98 financial year. [9]
In 1923, the Country Roads Board (CRB) took responsibility for the Alpine Road between [Harrietville and Omeo, and appointed William Benjamin (Bill) Spargo (1888–1959) as supervisor. [10] 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 [11] through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the CRB. The Ovens Highway was declared a State Highway within Victoria in the 1947/48 financial year, [12] from Wangaratta via Myrtleford to Bright (for a total of 47.5 miles); before this declaration, the road was referred to as (The) Alpine Road. [13] The highway was eventually extended from Bright further along Alpine Road to Harrietville in September 1993. [14]
The Ovens Highway, and the remainder of Alpine Road beyond, was signed as State Route 156 between Wangaratta and Omeo in 1986. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, its former route number was replaced with route B500 in late 1996, [8] with the Ovens Highway and Alpine Road from Wangaratta to Omeo, and the southern section of the Omeo Highway from Omeo to Bruthen [15] and then to Bairnsdale, renamed the Great Alpine Road at the same time. [8]
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 [16] 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. [17]
LGA | Location [1] [17] | km [1] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wangaratta | Wangaratta | 0.0 | 0.0 | Parfitt Road (Wangaratta Road) – Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Wodonga | Northwestern terminus of road and route B500 |
East Wangaratta | 4.2 | 2.6 | Hume Highway – Melbourne, Seymour, Wodonga, Sydney | ||
Tarrawingee | 11.0 | 6.8 | Beechworth–Wangaratta Road (C315) – Beechworth, Yackandandah | ||
Bowmans Forest | 33.7 | 20.9 | Buckland Gap Road (C524) – Beechworth | ||
Alpine | Gapsted | 39.4 | 24.5 | Snow Road – Milawa, Glenrowan | |
Myrtleford | 44.8 | 27.8 | Myrtleford–Yackandandah Road (C527) – Yackandandah | ||
45.2 | 28.1 | Buffalo River Road (C526) – Lake Buffalo | |||
Ovens | 50.1 | 31.1 | Happy Valley Road (C534) – Mount Beauty | ||
Porepunkah | 69.9 | 43.4 | Mount Buffalo Road (C535) – Mount Buffalo | Roundabout | |
Bright | 75.7 | 47.0 | Anderson Street – Bright, to Morses Creek Road – Wandiligong | ||
Germantown | 81.3 | 50.5 | Tawonga Gap Road (C536) – Mount Beauty | ||
Harrietville | 100.7 | 62.6 | Mill Road – Harrietville | ||
Hotham Heights | 121.0 | 75.2 | Dargo High Plains Road – Dargo, Bairnsdale | Summer season only road | |
Mount Hotham | 132.4 | 82.3 | Davenport Drive – Mount Hotham | ||
Dinner Plain | 142.2 | 88.4 | Horseshoe Circuit – Dinner Plain | ||
Cobungra | 152.5 | 94.8 | Mount Hotham Airport Road – Mount Hotham Airport | ||
East Gippsland | Omeo | 182.7 | 113.5 | Cassilis Road – Cassilis | |
186.3 | 115.8 | Omeo Highway (C543) – Benambra, Tallangatta | |||
Swifts Creek | 211.9 | 131.7 | Cassilis Road – Cassilis | ||
Ensay | 230.9 | 143.5 | Ensay-Doctors Flat Road – Ensay | ||
Bruthen | 281.2 | 174.7 | Bruthen–Nowa Nowa Road (C620) – Buchan, Orbost | ||
Wiseleigh | 284.5 | 176.8 | Sarsfield–Tambo Upper Road (C605) – Swan Reach | ||
Lucknow | 303.7 | 188.7 | Princes Highway (A1) – Lakes Entrance, Orbost, Bairnsdale, Melbourne | Roundabout; southeastern terminus of road and route B500 | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
|
Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for 840 kilometres (520 mi) between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of the route from Sydney's outskirts to Melbourne's outskirts to dual carriageway was completed on 7 August 2013.
Wangaratta is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, 236 km (147 mi) from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had a population of 29,808 per the 2021 Australian Census.
The Shire of Alpine is a local government area in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of 4,788 square kilometres (1,849 sq mi) and in August 2021 had a population of 13,235.
Mount Hotham is a mountain located in the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range, in the Australian state of Victoria. The mountain is located approximately 357 kilometres (222 mi) north east of Melbourne, 746 kilometres (464 mi) from Sydney, and 997 kilometres (620 mi) from Adelaide by road. The nearest major road to the mountain is the Great Alpine Road. The mountain is named after Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria from 1854 to 1855.
The Victorian Alps, also known locally as the High Country, is a large mountain system in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria. Occupying the majority of eastern Victoria, it is the southwestern half of the Australian Alps, the tallest portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Yarra and Dandenong Ranges, both sources of rivers and drinking waters for Melbourne, are branches of the Victorian Alps.
Bright is a town in northeastern Victoria, Australia, 319 metres above sea level at the southeastern end of the Ovens Valley. At the 2021 census, Bright had a population of 2,620. It is located in the Alpine Shire local government area.
Myrtleford is a town in northeast Victoria, Australia, 282 km northeast of Melbourne and 47 km southeast of Wangaratta. Myrtleford is part of the Alpine Shire local government area and in 2021 the town had a population of 3,285.
The Ovens River, a perennial river of the north-east Murray catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Alpine and Hume regions of the Australian state of Victoria.
Omeo is a town in Victoria, Australia on the Great Alpine Road, east of Mount Hotham, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2016 census, Omeo had a population of 406. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word for 'mountains' or 'hills'. Omeo is affectionately known as the City of the Alps with many historic buildings remaining in the town. The town is still the commercial hub for the Omeo Region and is a service centre for outlying communities such as Benambra, Cobungra, Cassilis, Swifts Creek, and Ensay.
The Bogong High Plains, part of the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range, are a section of plains located in the Alpine National Park in the Australian state of Victoria and are situated south of Mount Bogong.
Mount Feathertop is the second-highest mountain in the Australian state of Victoria and is part of the Australian Alps and is located within the Alpine National Park. It rises to 1,922 metres (6,306 ft) and is usually covered in snow from June to September. Unlike most mountains in the Australian Alps, Mount Feathertop has steep summit slopes instead of a rounded summit dome. Snow remaining in the summit gullies until late spring gives the appearance of feathers, hence the name.
Whitfield is an agricultural township in the King Valley in north-eastern Victoria.
The County of Bogong is one of the 37 counties of Victoria which are part of the cadastral divisions of Australia, used for land titles. It is located south of the Murray River, east of the Ovens River, and west of the Mitta Mitta River. Mount Bogong is located there, the highest mountain in Victoria. The county was proclaimed in 1871.
The Myrtleford Alpine Saints Football Netball Club, is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the town of Myrtleford, in north east Victoria on the Ovens River. The football and netball squads play in the Ovens & Murray Football League (OMFL).
The Omeo Highway is a 163 kilometre road in eastern Victoria, Australia, connecting north-east Victoria to Gippsland over parts of the Victorian Alps.
The Kiewa Valley Highway is a minor highway of 80 kilometres (50 mi) which traverses the Kiewa Valley near the alpine regions of Victoria, Australia. In the 1950s the road was sealed and realigned to Mount Beauty to permit the transport of materials for the construction of the Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme. From Mount Beauty the road continues as the Bogong High Plains Road, a winding and twisty route via the alpine resort of Falls Creek, which terminates at its junction with the Omeo Highway at Shannonvale south of Glen Valley.
Whorouly is a town in northeast Victoria, Australia. Its name is possibly derived from an Aboriginal word meaning a black cockatoo, although another suggestion is that it means "underwater".
The Bundara River, a perennial river of the North-East Murray catchment of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the East Gippsland and Alpine regions of Victoria, Australia.
Mount Hotham Alpine Resort is an Australian alpine resort, is located in the Alpine region of Victoria. Set on the slopes of Mount Hotham, the ski resort comprises an alpine village, situated at an altitude of 1,750 metres (5,740 ft) AHD, making it the second highest resort village in Australia after Charlotte Pass village, in New South Wales.
The Centenary 1000 cycling race was a one-week road bicycle race over seven stages covering 1,102 miles (1,773 km). The race was run in 1934 as part of the celebrations of the Centenary of Victoria. The race was originally conceived along the lines of the Dunlop Grand Prix, won by Hubert Opperman then aged 23, by 1h 20' and the concept for the race was covering 1,000 miles (1,600 km) with prizes exceeding £1,000, including a climb over Mount Hotham.
"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.