Ballarat Road, Melbourne

Ballarat Road Victoria
General information
Type	Road
Length	15 km (9 mi)
Route number(s)	State Route 8
Major junctions
West end	Western Freeway (M8), Ravenhall, Melbourne
	Western Ring Road (M80)
East end	Princes Highway (State Route 83), Footscray, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbs	Caroline Springs, Deer Park, Albion, Sunshine, Braybrook

Ballarat Road (in its westernmost part the Western Highway) is a major urban arterial road in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

History

Previously known as the Western Highway, the road has historically been signed as Route 8, but since the opening of the Western Ring Road the Deer Park section has been relegated to Route M8, and the newly completed Deer Park Bypass to Route 8 between Caroline Springs and Footscray (the inner city section has been decommissioned). The freeway was originally designated in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as part of the F12 Freeway corridor.

Geography

Ballarat Road starts at the Footscray junction of Princes Highway (Geelong Road) in Footscray and continues west through Maidstone, Braybrook, Sunshine, Albion, Cairnlea, Deer Park, Burnside, and the new Caroline Springs estate. The major junctions along the route include the Western Ring Road and the newly completed Deer Park Bypass.

Transport

Tram route 82 runs along the Footscray section of Ballarat Road, between Gordon & Droop Streets. The Melton railway line from Southern Cross runs parallel to Ballarat Road from Sunshine about 1 km to the south, with stations at Albion, and Deer Park. Several bus routes run along Ballarat Road at various points (routes 215, 216, 220, 223, 256, 400, 406, 408, 410 and 456) with 456 continuing on the Western Freeway to Melton.

With three lanes running in each direction, between Deer Park and the Western Ring Road, this was one of the worst bottlenecks in western Melbourne with traffic reaching 70,000 vehicles per day, with 10 per cent of this consisting of heavy vehicles. This caused delays, in part due to seven traffic signals between the Western Ring Road and the start of the Western Freeway. With the completion of the Deer Park Bypass traffic volumes are predicted to decrease to local traffic standard since its opening on 5 April 2009.

Beyond that, to central Melbourne, losing its dual carriageway status at Braybrook and becoming another clogged two lane arterial road, including one small stretch which shares the road with trams.

Major intersections and suburbs

Ballarat Road
Westbound	Distance from Western Freeway (km)	Eastbound
End Ballarat Road continues as Western Freeway to Ballarat / Adelaide	0.0	Start Ballarat Road from Western Freeway
Melbourne via Freeway, Caroline Springs Christies Road Caroline Springs Boulevard	0.5	Caroline Springs, Melbourne via Freeway Caroline Springs Boulevard Christies Road
Tarneit, Burnside Westwood Drive	2	Burnside, Tarneit Westwood Drive
Deer Park	4	Deer Park
Laverton, Taylors Lakes Station Road		Taylors Lakes, Laverton Station Road
Ballarat, Geelong, Adelaide; Seymour, Sydney Western Ring Road	6	Greensborough, Seymour, Sydney; Melbourne, Geelong Western Ring Road
BENDIGO RAIL LINE	8.3	BENDIGO RAIL LINE
St Albans St Albans Road	8.7	St Albans St Albans Road
Altona, Taylors Lakes Anderson Road McIntyre Road		Taylors Lakes, Altona McIntyre Road Anderson Road
Sunshine	8.9	Sunshine
Braybrook, Sunshine North Duke Street	10.5	Sunshine North, Braybrook Duke Street
Tottenham Ashley Street	12	Tottenham, Yarraville Ashley Street
		Maribyrnong Mitchell Street
Braybrook, Maribyrnong Churchill Avenue	12.4	Maribyrnong, Braybrook Churchill Avenue
West Footscray, Maribyrnong Summerhill Road Rosamond Road	13.9	Maribyrnong, West Footscray Rosamond Road Summerhill Road
Williamstown, Essendon Gordon Street	14.4	Essendon, Williamstown Gordon Street
Footscray Droop Street	14.8	Footscray Droop Street
Ascot Vale Farnsworth Avenue	14.9	Ascot Vale Farnsworth Avenue
Start Ballarat Road from Princes Highway (Geelong Road)	15.5	End Ballarat Road continues as Princes Highway (Geelong Road) to Flemington / Parkville / Melbourne CBD

See also

• Deer Park Bypass
• Western Highway
• Western Freeway

References

Coordinates: 37°46′38″S 144°49′49″E / 37.77722°S 144.83028°E