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South Gippsland Highway is a partially divided highway connecting the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne through the South Gippsland region of in Victoria, Australia to the town of Sale. The highway serves as a gateway from Melbourne to many attractions including Wilsons Promontory and Phillip Island as well as being an important road for farmers in Gippsland.
South Gippsland Highway | |
|---|---|
 | |
  West end East end | |
| Coordinates |
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| General information | |
| Type | Highway |
| Length | 256 km (159 mi)[1] |
| Gazetted | November 1913 (as Main Road)[2] 1933 (as State Highway)[3] |
| Route number(s) |
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| Former route number |
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| Major junctions | |
| West end |  Princes HighwayDandenong South, Melbourne |
| East end |  Princes HighwaySale, Victoria |
| Location(s) | |
| Major settlements | Cranbourne, Koo Wee Rup, Lang Lang, Korumburra, Leongatha, Foster, Yarram, Longford |
| Highway system | |
South Gippsland Highway commences at the intersection with Princes Highway in Dandenong, and heads in a south-eastly direction as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road towards the northern shores of Western Port Bay, through Cranbourne and Tooradin, until it reaches the interchange with Bass Highway to Phillip Island outside Lang Lang, after which it is entirely an undivided rural highway. It continues in an southeasterly direction through Nyora, Korumburra, Leongatha, Foster, Welshpool and Yarram, before heading north and eventually terminating at a roundabout with Princes Highway at Sale.
The passing of the Country Roads Act of 1912[4] through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the establishment of the Country Roads Board (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. (Main) South Gippsland Road was declared a Main Road, from Korumburra to Leongatha, on 10 November 1913;[2] (Main) Coast Road was declared a Main Road, from Dandenong to Lang Lang, on 1 December 1913;[5] and Sale-Yarram Road was declared a Main Road, from Sale via Longford to Stradbroke, on 23 March 1914;[6]
The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924[7] provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board. South Gippsland Highway was declared a State Highway in 1933,[3] cobbled together from roads between Dandenong and Nyora, and between Sale and Yarram (for a total of 83 miles), subsuming the original declarations of (Main) Coast Road, (Main) South Gippsland Road and Sale-Yarram Roads as Main Roads. In 1939, another section between Foster through Welshpool to Yarram was added,[8] along the former Foster-Yarram Road.[9] In the 1947/48 financial year, another section between Nyora via Korumburra and Leongatha to Meeniyan was added,[10] along the former Loch-Nyora Road, Bena-Korumburra Road and Korumburra-Leongatha Roads.[8] In the 1965/66 financial year, the last section between Meeniyan and Foster was added,[11] completing its present-day alignment at this stage.
Conversion to dual carriageways at the western end began in 1975, initially between South Gippsland Freeway and Cranbourne; a distance of 17 km.[12] The final link in the duplication of the highway between Dandenong and Bass Highway opened in the early 1990s between Princes Highway and Pound Road.[13]
South Gippsland Highway was signed as State Route 180 between Dandenong and Sale on 13 December 1985, the first road in Victoria signed with a State Route,[14] and later a concurrency with Metropolitan Route 12 between Greens Road and Pound Road through Dandenong South; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was replaced by route M420 between Lynbrook and Lang Lang, B440 between Lang Lang and Sale (which was upgraded to A440 when highway upgrades along South Gippsland Highway raised the quality of the road in 2003), and unallocated (excluding the short stretch of Metro Route 12) between Dandenong and Dandenong South.
The western section of the South Gippsland Highway between the intersection of the Koo Wee Rup Bypass and the Princess Highway is gradually being renumbered to A21 and B21 following the completion of major works on Heasville - Koo Wee Rup Road in 2024. The upgrade has included the rerouting of M420 to the upgraded route.
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004[15] through the Parliament of Victoria granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: VicRoads re-declared the road in 2004 as South Gippsland Highway (Arterial #6580), from Dandenong South to Sale.[16]
Timeline of upgrades and duplication
- 1961 – Whitelaw By-pass Road: 2.5 miles just north of Korumburra completed as a 2-lane, single-carriageway road, replacing a narrow winding route 3.5 miles long consisting of portions of Bena-Korumburra and Warragul-Korumburra Roads, eliminating two railway crossings, costing A£65,000.[17]
- 1975 – Conversion to dual carriageways at the western end began in 1975, between the South Gippsland Freeway and Cranbourne; a distance of 17 km.[12]
- 1987 – Duplication works completed on three sections. Cranbourne to Five Ways, Tooradin to Dalmore Road, and Monomeith Road to Bass Highway.[18]
- 1989 – 3 km of dual carriageways opened between Manks Road and Lynes Road, Tooradin in December 1989.[19]
- 1990 – 3 km of dual carriageways opened between Lynes Road, Tooradin and Dore Road in April 1990. At this stage, ’27 km of the planned 32 km length of duplication between Cranbourne and Bass Highway has now been completed’.[19]
- 1990/1991 – Duplication of 6 km south of Tooradin completed at a cost of $A9.9m. No exact date was given, however VicRoads Annual Reports cover the previous financial year. This completed the duplication of the highway between Cranbourne and the Bass Highway.[20] An interesting anomaly is that the kilometre lengths quoted in this annual report[20] and the previous annual report [19] do not match!
- 1991/1992 – 2.8 km duplication opened between Princes Highway and Pound Road. This was the final link in the duplication of the highway from the Princes Highway to Bass Highway, Again, no exact date was given, however VicRoads Annual Reports cover the previous financial year.[13]
Level crossing elimination
The Gippsland railway line crossing just south of the intersection with Princes Highway in Dandenong South was removed in 3 August 2021. The contract was awarded in March 2020,[21] with construction starting in October 2020[22] on a new road bridge over the rail line on an alignment just east of the original level crossing to a new intersection with Princes Highway; construction was completed and the new alignment was opened to traffic in 3 August 2021.[23]
| LGA | Location[1] | km[1] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Dandenong | Dandenong South | 0.0 | 0.0 | Princes Highway (Alt. National Route 1) – Dandenong, Melbourne, Berwick, Warragul | Western terminus of highway |
| 0.1 | 0.062 | Gippsland railway line | |||
| 0.5 | 0.31 | Dandenong Bypass – Keysborough, Moorabbin | |||
| 1.8 | 1.1 |  Greens Road (Metro Route 12) – Mordialloc, Keysborough | Concurrency with Metro Route 12 | ||
| 3.3 | 2.1 | Pound Road (Metro Route 12 east) – Hampton Park, Narre Warren Pound Road West (C652 west) – Dandenong South | |||
| Dandenong South–Lynbrook–Hampton Park tripoint | 4.5 | 2.8 |  South Gippsland Freeway (M420 north) – Chadstone, City Western Port Highway (M780 south) – Hastings, Flinders | Partial cloverleaf interchange Route M420 continues north and southeast from here | |
| Casey | Lynbrook | 7.3 | 4.5 | Hallam Road (north) – Hampton Park, Hallam Evans Road (south) – Lyndhurst, Cranbourne West | |
| Cranbourne North–Cranbourne boundary | 10.2 | 6.3 |  Thompsons Road (Metro Route 6) – Carrum, Berwick | ||
| Cranbourne | 13.8 | 8.6 |   Sladen Street (Mero Route 4 west, C407 east) – Frankston, Berwick | ||
| Cranbourne–Cranbourne East boundary | 14.8 | 9.2 |  Narre Warren Road (A404) – Narre Warren, Belgrave, Lilydale | ||
| Devon Meadows–Clyde boundary | 20.1 | 12.5 |  Clyde–Five Ways Road (C778 north) – Clyde, BerwickFisheries Road (south) – Cannons Creek, Pearcedale | ||
| Tooradin–Devon Meadows–Blind Bight tripoint | 24.7 | 15.3 |  Baxter-Tooradin Road (C781) – Baxter, Pearcedale | Roundabout | |
| Tooradin | 31.4 | 19.5 | Dalmore Road – Cardinia | ||
| Cardinia | Koo Wee Rup | 36.4 | 22.6 |  Rossiter Road (C421) – Koo Wee Rup, Longwarry,to  Koo Wee Rup Bypass (C422) – Pakenham | Roundabout |
| 38.9 | 24.2 |  Sybella Avenue (C419) – Koo Wee Rup | |||
| Lang Lang | 45.9 | 28.5 |  McDonalds Track (C429) – Lang Lang, Nyora | ||
| 47.5 | 29.5 |  Westernport Road (C431) – Lang Lang, Drouin | Roundabout | ||
| 49.7 | 30.9 | Bass Highway (M420) – Wonthaggi, Phillip Island | Southbound entrance to and northbound exit from Bass Highway only Route M420 continues south, western terminus of route A440 | ||
| South Gippsland | Loch, Nyora | 60.9 | 37.8 |  Lang Lang–Nyora Road (C434) – Nyora, Poowong | |
| Loch | 68.7 | 42.7 | Victoria Road – Loch, to Loch-Wonthaggi Road – Almurta, Wonthaggi Loch-Poowong Road – Poowong | ||
| 69.7 | 43.3 | Former South Gippsland railway line | |||
| Bena | 77.0 | 47.8 | |||
| Korumburra | 81.5 | 50.6 |  Warragul–Korumburra Road (C425) – Poowong, Warragul | ||
| 82.0 | 51.0 |  Korrumburra-Wonthaggi Road (C437) – Wonthaggi, Inverloch | |||
| Leongatha | 96.3 | 59.8 |  Strzelecki Highway (B460 northeast) – Mirboo North, Morwell Bass Highway (B460 southwest) – Inverloch, Wonthaggi, Phillip Island | ||
| 96.9 | 60.2 |  Ogilvy Street (C454) – Dumbalk | |||
| Meeniyan | 110.0 | 68.4 |  Tarwin Lower (C443) – Venus Bay | ||
| 113.3 | 70.4 |  Farmers Road (C455) – Dumbalk, Mirboo North | |||
| 114.0 | 70.8 |  Meeniyan–Promontory Road (C444) – Fish Creek, Wilsons Promontory | |||
| Foster | 134.3 | 83.5 |  Fish Creek–Foster Road (C445) – Fish Creek, Wilsons Promontory | ||
| Agnes | 152.4 | 94.7 |  Barry Road (C447) – Agnes | ||
| Welshpool | 156.1 | 97.0 |  Port Welshpool Road (C451 south) – Port WelshpoolWoorarra Road (north) – Boolarra | ||
| Wellington | Alberton | 177.8 | 110.5 |  Yarram–Port Albert Road (C452) – Port Albert | |
| Yarram | 185.2 | 115.1 |  Tarra Valley Road (C484) – Tarra Valley | ||
| 187.5 | 116.5 |  Hyland Highway (C482) – Traralgon | |||
| Woodside | 203.5 | 126.4 |  Carrajung–Woodside Road (C453) – Carrajung, Traralgon | Northern concurrency with route C453 | |
| Bruthen Creek | 203.7 | 126.6 | Bridge name unknown | ||
| Wellington | Woodside | 203.9 | 126.7 | Woodside Beach Road (C453) – Woodside Beach, to  McLoughlins Road (C459) – McLoughlins Beach | Southern concurrency with route C453 |
| Longford | 248.4 | 154.3 |  Seaspray Road (C496) – Seaspray,to  Garretts Road (C497) – Dutson | ||
| 249.7 | 155.2 |  Longford–Loch Sport Road (C485) – Golden Beach, Loch Sport | Concurrency with route C485 | ||
| 250.1 | 155.4 | Rosedale–Longford Road (C485) – Rosedale | |||
| Sale | 255.8 | 158.9 | Princes Highway – Traralgon, Bairnsdale, Orbost | Eastern terminus of highway and route A440 at roundabout | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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