Eastern Highway

Eastern Highway is a 1.2 kilometre highway in inner northern Melbourne, Australia, that ultimately acts as a feeder road into the Eastern Freeway. This name however is not widely known to most drivers, as the allocation is still best known by the name of its sole constituent part: Alexandra Parade.

Eastern Highway Alexandra Parade Victoria
General information
Type	Highway
Length	1.2 km (0.7 mi)[1]
Route number(s)	Metro Route 83 (1989–present) Entire route Concurrencies: Metro Route 46 (1965–present) (through Fitzroy North)
Major junctions
West end	Princes Street Fitzroy, Melbourne
	Nicholson Street Brunswick Street Queens Parade Hoddle Street
East end	Eastern Freeway Collingwood, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbs	Collingwood, Fitzroy
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Victoria

Route

Alexandra Parade begins at the intersection with Nicholson Street and Princes Streets in Fitzroy along a wide dual-carriageway alignment, varying between eight and ten lanes, heading east across Brunswick Street, before terminating shortly after at Gold Street in Collingwood: the skewed alignment into the Eastern Freeway continues east beyond, along with ramps for access to/from Hoddle Street 350m further east.

History

The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924^[2] through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads). The Eastern Highway was declared a State Highway in October 1977,^[3] along Alexandra Parade from Nicholson Street in Fitzroy to Gold Street in Collingwood, but was still referenced on local signage as Alexandra Parade.

Alexandra Parade previously extended a short distance east beyond Hoddle Street, under the Whittlesea railway line to end at Dights Falls on the Yarra River: with the opening of the first stage of the Eastern Freeway in December 1977, Alexandra Parade was truncated back to Gold Street. A vestigial alignment partially survives as Alexandra Parade East,^[4] running parallel to the eastbound entry ramp.

Alexandra Parade was signed as Metropolitan Route 83 between Fitzroy and Collingwood in 1989; it previously continued east along Eastern Freeway until it was replaced by route M3 when EastLink opened in 2008. Metropolitan Route 46 runs concurrent along Alexandra Parade, between Nicholson Street and Queens Parade through Fitzroy North, signed from 1965.

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004^[5] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared Eastern Highway (Arterial #6830) between Nicholson and Gold Streets.^[6] The road is still presently known (and signposted) as Alexandra Parade along its entire length.

Major intersections

LGA	Location	km	mi	Destinations	Notes
		Princes Street (Metro Routes 83/46)
		Nicholson Street
		Brunswick Street (Metro Route 45)
		Queens Parade (Metro Route 46)
		George Street
		Smith Street
		Wellington Street
		Hoddle Street (Metro Route 29)
		Eastern Freeway (M3)
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Route transition

See also

Australian Roads portal

• List of Melbourne highways

References

1. "Eastern Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
2. 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
3. "Country Roads Board Victoria. Sixty-Fifth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1978". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 29 September 1978. p. 8.
4. "Alexandra Parade East" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
5. 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.
6. VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 1036. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.