Warrigal Road is a major inner urban road in southeastern Melbourne, Australia. On weekdays, it is heavily trafficked as it runs through many major suburbs along its route, traversing some of Melbourne's eastern and south-eastern suburbs. These suburbs include Chadstone, Oakleigh, and Cheltenham. The Chadstone Shopping Centre can be accessed directly from Warrigal Road at its eastern entrance.

Warrigal Road

Warrigal Highway

Map
Warrigal Road is located in Melbourne
North end
North end
South end
South end
Coordinates
General information
TypeHighway
Length18.9 km (12 mi)[1]
Route number(s) Metro Route 15 (1965–present)
Former
route number
Metro Route 14 (1989–2016)
(Moorabbin–Heatherton)
Major junctions
North end Canterbury Road
Surrey Hills, Melbourne
 
South end Beach Road
Parkdale, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbsSurrey Hills, Burwood, Ashwood, Chadstone, Oakleigh, Oakleigh South, Moorabbin, Heatherton, Cheltenham, Mentone
Highway system

Route

edit

Warrigal Road begins at the intersection with Canterbury Road in Surrey Hills and runs south as a four-lane, single-carriageway road with a speed limit at 60 km/h, up and down steep gradients, through the intersection with Toorak Road and Burwood Highway at Burwood (where the highway declaration starts) and continues south to the intersection with High Street Road at Ashwood, where the road widens to a six-lane, dual-carriageway road with bus lanes. Continuing south, it crosses under the Glen Waverley railway line (where the bus lanes end) and the Monash Freeway in Chadstone to the intersection with Princes Highway. Continuing south as a four-lane, single-carriageway road, it crosses over the Pakenham railway line through Oakleigh until the intersection of Old Dandenong Road, Oakleigh South, where it widens again to a six-lane, dual-carriageway road with a speed limit of 70 km/h and continues south through Heatherton until Bernard Street, where it narrows again to a four-lane, single-carriageway road and the speed limit is reduced back to 60 km/h. Continuing south, it passes through Nepean Highway in Mentone (where the highway declaration ends), where it narrows again to a dual-lane, single-carriageway road, crosses the Frankston railway line, before eventually terminating at an uncontrolled T-intersection with Beach Road in Parkdale.

Warrigal Road is aligned with the 1 mile (1.6 km) cadastral survey grid of Melbourne, and is 8 miles (13 km) east of the survey datum at Batman's Hill.[2]

History

edit

The Country Roads Board (later VicRoads) declared Warrigal Road a Main Road in the 1937–38 financial year,[3] from Canterbury Road in Surrey Hills to Centre Road, Oakleigh South.[3] The bridge over Gardiners Creek at Ashwood was also replaced during this period: the old structure was demolished, and a new bridge was built on an improved alignment with the road immediately downstream of the old one. The new bridge opened on 25 October 1938,[4] for a total cost of approximately 4,100.[3] It was later widened to take four lanes of traffic in 1958, using the unusual measure of cutting and jacking over to a new position of the footways and hand-rails of the existing structure, and widening the road between them; this procedure cost much less than would have been the cost of demolishing the footway and casting a new section.[5] Construction of a road-over-rail overpass at the level crossing with the Pakenham railway line in Oakleigh, with assistance from Victorian Railways, was completed in the 1967–68 financial year.[6]

Warrigal Road was signed as Metropolitan Route 15 between Surrey Hills and Parkdale in 1965. Metropolitan Route 14 previously ran concurrent along Warrigal Road from South Road at Oakleigh South to Kingston Road at Heatherton from 1989; this was removed when Metropolitan Route 14 was re-routed along Dingley Bypass when it opened in 2016.

The passing of the Transport Act of 1983[7] (itself an evolution from the original Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924[8]) provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Road Construction Authority (later VicRoads). The Warrigal Highway was declared a State Highway in December 1990,[9] from the South Eastern Arterial at Chadstone to the Nepean Highway in Mentone, and was extended north from the South Eastern Arterial to Burwood Highway at Burwood in October 1993;[10] the road was known (and signposted) as Warrigal Road along its entire length.

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004[11] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Warrigal Highway (Arterial #6070), beginning at Burwood Highway at Burwood and ending at Nepean Highway in Mentone,[12] while re-declaring the remnants between Surrey Hills and Parkdale as Warrigal Road (Arterial #5843)[13] The road is still presently known (and signposted) as Warrigal Road along its entire length.

Etymology

edit

The name Warrigal refers to a wild dingo in the Darug language.[14]

Major Intersections

edit
LGA[1]Location[1]km[1]miDestinationsNotes
BoroondaraWhitehorse boundarySurrey Hills00.0  Canterbury Road (Metro Route 32) – Forest Hill, CamberwellNorthern terminus of road and Metro Route 15
Surrey HillsBurwood boundary1.10.68  Riversdale Road (Metro Route 20) – Box Hill South, Camberwell
CamberwellBurwood boundary2.71.7  Toorak Road (Metro Route 26 west) – Kooyong, Toorak
  Burwood Highway (Metro Route 26 east) – Burwood, Ferntree Gully
Northern terminus of Warrigal Highway (declared)
BoroondaraMonash boundaryAshburtonAshwood boundary4.42.7  High Street Road (Metro Route 24) – Mount Waverley, Glen Iris
StonningtonMonash boundaryMalvern EastChadstone boundary6.13.8Waverley Road
6.44.0  Monash Freeway (M1) – Pakenham, CityDiamond interchange
Malvern EastChadstoneOakleigh tripoint6.84.2Middle Road – Chadstone Shopping Centre
Malvern EastHughesdaleOakleigh tripoint7.54.7   Dandenong Road (Alt National Route 1/Metro Route 22) – Springvale, Caulfield
Glen EiraMonash boundaryBentleigh EastHughesdaleOakleighOakleigh South quadripoint9.45.8  North Road (Metro Route 18) – Mulgrave, Ormond
Glen EiraMonashKingston tripointBentleigh EastOakleigh South boundary116.8  Centre Road (Metro Route 18) – Clayton, Bentleigh
Glen EiraKingston boundary11.97.4Old Dandenong Road – Clarinda
Bentleigh EastMoorabbinHeathertonOakleigh South quadripoint12.67.8  South Road (Metro Route 14 west) – Moorabbin
   Dingley Bypass (Metro Routes 14/87 east) – Noble Park, Dandenong South
KingstonMoorabbinHeatherton boundary14.38.9Kingston Road – Heatherton, Noble Park
Cheltenham15.99.9Center Dandenong Road – Cheltenham, Dingley Village
MentoneParkdale boundary17.510.9   Nepean Highway (Metro Routes 3/10) – Frankston, CitySouthern terminus of Warrigal Highway (declared)
18.911.7  Beach Road (Metro Route 33) – Mordialloc, SandringhamSouthern terminus of road and Metro Route 15
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
  •       Route transition

See also

edit

  Australian roads portal

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d "Warrigal Road" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  2. ^ Lay, Maxwell (2003). Melbourne Miles: The Story of Melbourne's Roads. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing. ISBN 1-74097-019-5.
  3. ^ a b c "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twenty-Fifth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1938". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 24 November 1938. pp. 14–5, 32–3.
  4. ^ "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twenty-Sixth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1939". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 10 November 1939. p. 34.
  5. ^ "Country Roads Board Victoria. Forty-Fifth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1958". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 19 November 1958. p. 27.
  6. ^ "Country Roads Board Victoria. Fifty-Fifth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1968". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 6 January 1969. p. 5.
  7. ^ State of Victoria, An Act to Re-enact with Amendments the Law relating to Transport including the Law with respect to Railways, Roads and Tramways... 23 June 1983
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 19 December 1990. pp. 3783, 3786. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 28 October 1993. pp. 2902–3. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015". Government of Victoria. pp. 944–5. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  13. ^ VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015". Government of Victoria. p. 805. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  14. ^ Macquarie Dictionary. "Loan words from Australian languages: Tales of myth and misunderstanding". Macquarie Dictionary Online. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  1. 1945.melbourne
  2. http://melwayed1.melway.com.au/mwyedn1.htm