Loddon Valley Highway | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Highway |
| Length | 124 km (77 mi)[1] |
| Route number(s) |  B260 (1998–present) |
| Former route number |  State Route 141 (1986–1998)[2] |
| Major junctions | |
| North end |  Murray Valley HighwayKerang, Victoria |
 Boort–Pyramid Road | |
| South end |  Calder HighwayIronbark, Bendigo |
| Location(s) | |
| Major settlements | Durham Ox, Serpentine, Eaglehawk |
| Highway system | |
The Loddon Valley Highway runs roughly north-west from Bendigo to Kerang on the Murray Valley Highway. It constitutes part of the direct route from Melbourne to the popular Murray River holiday areas around Swan Hill.
Route
Loddon Valley Highway starts at the intersection with Murray Valley Highway just south of the fringes of Kerang, and runs south as a dual-lane single-carriageway road, running parallel to the Loddon River a short distance to the west of the road for much of its length. It continues south through Durham Ox until it reaches Serpentine, where it veers more to the south-east away from the river course, passing through the hills around Eaglehawk on the outskirts of Greater Bendigo, before it meets the Calder Highway and ends at the intersections of Eaglehawk and Marong Roads in Ironbark, in the north-western suburbs of Bendigo.
History
The Country Roads Board (later VicRoads) declared Loddon Valley Road a Main Road in the 1937/38 financial year,[3] from Murray Valley Highway in Kerang, along roads through Durham Ox and Serpentine, to Calder Highway in Bendigo (for a total of 77 miles).[3]
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; Loddon Valley Road was re-declared Loddon Valley Highway, a State Highway, in 1946.[5]
The Loddon Valley Highway was signed as State Route 141 between Kerang and Bendigo in 1986; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was replaced by route B260.
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004[6] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Loddon Valley Highway (Arterial #6630), beginning at Murray Valley Highway at Kerang and ending at Calder Highway in Ironbark, Bendigo.[7]
Major intersections
| LGA | Location[1][7] | km[1] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gannawarra | Kerang | 0.0 | 0.0 | Murray Valley Highway (B400) – Kerang, Swan Hill, Cohuna, Echuca | Northern terminus of highway and route B260 |
| Loddon | Durham Ox | 40.6 | 25.2 | Boort–Pyramid Road (C267 east) – Pyramid Hill, Cohuna | Concurrency with route C267 |
| 42.3 | 26.3 | Boort–Pyramid Road (C267 west) – Boort, Wycheproof | |||
| Jarklin | 52.5 | 32.6 |  Boort–Mitiamo Road (C334) – Mitiamo, Echuca | ||
| Serpentine | 75.2 | 46.7 |  Bridgewater–Serpentine Road (C274) – Bridgewater On Loddon, Dunolly | ||
| Greater Bendigo | Eaglehawk | 119.1 | 74.0 |  Sailors Gully Road (Bendigo–Pyramid Road) (C336) – Pyramid Hill | |
| California Gully | 120.3 | 74.8 |  Sandhurst Road (C329) – Bendigo, Heathcote | Traffic light intersection | |
| Long Gully | 122.0 | 75.8 |  Holdsworth Road (C333) – White Hills | ||
| 122.7 | 76.2 |  Creeth Street (Golden Square–Long Gully Road) (C323) – West Bendigo, Golden Square | Traffic light intersection | ||
| Ironbark | 123.8 | 76.9 | Calder Highway (A79) – Marong, Mildura, Bendigo, Melbourne | Southern terminus of highway and route B260 at traffic light intersection | |
| |||||
See also
References
- 1 2 3 Google (2 November 2021). "Loddon Valley Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ↑ State Route Numbering System - The former route numbering in rural Victoria, Main Roads Victoria. Retrieved on 14 September 2013.
- 1 2 "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. p. 14.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ "Country Roads Board Victoria. Thirty-Third Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1946". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 3 December 1946. p. 5.
- ↑ 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.
- 1 2 VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. pp. 944–5. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
