Ballarat Road, Melbourne

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

Ballarat Road Victoria
West end East end
Coordinates	37.752°S 144.728°E / -37.752; 144.728 (West end) 37.7955°S 144.912°E / -37.7955; 144.912 (East end)
General information
Type	Road
Length	16 km (9.9 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

History

Previously known as the Western Highway, the road is signed as State Route 8. The Deer Park Bypass (completed 2009) carries the National Highway M8 designation while the Ballarat Road from Caroline Springs through Deer Park has the blue Route 8 shield. Route 8 continues on Ballarat Road across the Western Ring Road (opened 1996) to the inner suburb of Footscray. 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 Caroline Springs. The major junctions along the route include the Western Ring Road and the 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 were predicted to decrease to local traffic standard since its opening on 5 April 2009.

Beyond that, to central Melbourne, Ballarat Road has a single carriageway from Braybrook and is a two lane arterial road, including one small stretch which shares the road with trams.

Major intersections and suburbs

Location[1]	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Ravenhall	0.0	0.0	Western Freeway (M8) – Ballarat / Adelaide
Ravenhall, Caroline Springs	0.9	0.56	Christies Road / Caroline Springs Boulevard – Caroline Springs, Melbourne via M8
Ravenhall, Burnside	2.4	1.5	Westwood Drive – Hoppers Crossing, Burnside
Deer Park	4.4	2.7	Station Road – Laverton, Taylors Lakes
Deer Park, Cairnlea	5.4	3.4	Kororoit Creek
Deer Park, Ardeer, Cairnlea	6.2	3.9	Western Ring Road (M80) – Ballarat, Geelong, Adelaide; Greensborough, Seymour, Sydney
Albion	8.9	5.5	Bendigo railway line
Sunshine	9.3	5.8	St Albans Road – St Albans; Anderson Road / McIntyre Road – Altona, Taylors Lakes
Sunshine, Sunshine North, Braybrook	11.0	6.8	Duke Street – Braybrook, Sunshine North
Braybrook	12.6	7.8	Ashley Street – Tottenham, Yarraville
Maidstone	12.9	8.0	Churchill Avenue – Braybrook, Maribyrnong
Maidstone, Footscray	14.3	8.9	Summerhill Road / Rosamond Road – West Footscray, Maribyrnong
Footscray	15.0	9.3	Gordon Street (route 37) – Williamstown, Essendon
	15.3	9.5	Droop Street – Footscray
	15.4	9.6	Farnsworth Avenue – Ascot Vale
	16.0	9.9	Princes Highway (Geelong Road) – Geelong	continues as towards Flemington, Parkville, Melbourne CBD
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Route transition

See also

• Western Highway

References

1. Google (7 January 2017). "Ballarat Road, Melbourne" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 7 January 2017.