Bass Highway | |
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Bass Highway as it passes through Kilcunda | |
Coordinates | |
General information | |
Type | Highway |
Length | 87 km (54 mi) [1] |
Route number(s) |
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Former route number |
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Major junctions | |
West end |
South Gippsland Highway Lang Lang, Victoria |
East end |
Strzelecki Highway Leongatha, Victoria |
Location(s) | |
Major settlements | Grantville, Kilcunda, Inverloch |
Highway system | |
The Bass Highway [2] [3] is an 87 kilometre highway in Victoria, Australia, branching off the South Gippsland Highway at the township of Lang Lang and running south, along the eastern shore of Western Port, to Anderson (and the turn-off to Phillip Island). The Bass Highway continues easterly to Kilcunda, Wonthaggi and Inverloch, then turns north-easterly to rejoin the South Gippsland Highway at Leongatha. It was named due to its proximity to the Bass Strait.
The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924 [4] 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 Bass Highway was declared a State Highway in the 1947/48 financial year, [5] from the South Gippsland Highway near Nyora via Anderson, and Dalyston to Wonthaggi (for a total of 30 miles); before this declaration, the roads were referred to as (Main) Coast Road, Anderson–Dalyston Road and Dalyston–Wonthaggi Road. [6] In the 1959/60 financial year, another section from Wonthaggi to Inverloch was added, [7] along the former Inverloch-Wonthaggi Road. [7] With the passing of the Transport Act of 1983 [8] (itself an evolution from the original Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924), it was extended east along the former Inverloch-Leongatha Road to Leongatha in December 1990. [9]
The Bass Highway was signed as State Route 181 between Lang Lang and Wonthaggi in 1986, [10] later extended with the road to Leongatha in 1990. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was replaced by route M420 between Lang Lang and Grantville, A420 between Grantville and the Phillip Island turn-off at Anderson, and B460 between Anderson and Leongatha. A duplication project improving the quality of the road upgraded the A420 allocation to M420 in 2013, now running the entire way between Lang Lang and a new link road to Phillip Island in south-western Bass. [11]
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 [12] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Bass Highway (Arterial #6710) between South Gippsland Highway in Lang Lang and Leongatha. [13]
A project to duplicate the Bass Highway from Lang Lang to Anderson (east of Phillip Island) commenced in the late 1990s, addressing the high traffic demand of the route and recent crash history. It was constructed in seven stages, with Stage 7 of the project from Woolmer Road to Phillip Island Road completed in 2013.
The benefits of this project include:
The project was completed in 2013. [11]
LGA | Location [1] [13] | km [1] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cardinia | Lang Lang | 0.0 | 0.0 | South Gippsland Highway (M420 north/A440 east) – Dandenong, Melbourne, Leongatha | Combined
partial Y interchange and at-grade intersection for complete access Western terminus of highway, route M420 continues north along South Gippsland Highway |
Bass Coast | The Gurdies | 9.9 | 6.2 | Gurdies–St Helier Road – Woodleigh | |
Grantville | 15.0 | 9.3 | Grantville–Glen Alvie Road (east) –
Grantville Pier Road (west) – Kernot, Almurta | Traffic light intersection | |
Corinella– Glen Forbes boundary | 19.1 | 11.9 | Corinella Road (C436 west) –
Corinella,
Coronet Bay Glen Forbes Road (east) – Glen Forbes | ||
Bass | 28.8 | 17.9 | Phillip Island Road (B420) – Phillip Island | Partial Y interchange: south-westbound exit and north-westbound entrance only Route transition: southern terminus of route M420, northern terminus of route B460 | |
Anderson | 31.0 | 19.3 | Old Phillip Island Road (C439) – Phillip Island | Roundabout | |
Wonthaggi | 47.9 | 29.8 | Korumburra Road (C437) – Kongwak, Korumburra | ||
48.3 | 30.0 | Graham Street (west), to Cape Paterson Road (C435) –
Cape Paterson McKenzie Street (south) – Wonthaggi | Roundabout | ||
Inverloch | 59.9 | 37.2 | Korumburra–Inverloch Road (C441) – Korumburra, Inverloch | ||
60.9 | 37.8 | Williams Street (C435 south) –
Inverloch,
Cape Paterson Inverloch–Venus Bay Road (C442 east) – Venus Bay | Roundabout | ||
South Gippsland | Leongatha | 86.4 | 53.7 | South Gippsland Highway (A440 southeast, northwest) – Melbourne, Foster | Roundabout |
Strzelecki Highway (B460) – Morwell | Eastern terminus of highway; route B460 continues east along Strzelecki Highway | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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