Beach Road is a coastal suburban road in Melbourne, Australia that runs along the northeastern shore of Port Phillip Bay, from Bay Street in Port Melbourne to its southern point in Mordialloc. This name covers many consecutive streets and is not widely known to most drivers except for the southernmost section, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the names of its constituent parts: Beach Street, Beaconsfield Parade, Jacka Boulevard, Marine Parade, Ormond Esplanade, St Kilda Street, Esplanade and Beach Road proper.[3] This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion.
Beach Road (numerous constituent roads) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Albert Park foreshore, near Beaconsfield Parade | |
  Northwest end Southeast end | |
| Coordinates |
|
| General information | |
| Type | Road |
| Length | 26.9 km (17 mi)[1] |
| Gazetted | May 1935[2] |
| Route number(s) |  Metro Route 33 (1965–present) |
| Former route number |  Metro Route 26 (1965–1989)(Port Melbourne–Albert Park) |
| Major junctions | |
| Northwest end |  Bay StreetPort Melbourne |
| |
| Southeast end |  Nepean HighwayMordialloc, Melbourne |
| Location(s) | |
| Major suburbs | St Kilda, Sandringham, Black Rock, Beaumaris |
Beach Road is extremely popular with cyclists. While the Bayside Trail follows the road closely, cyclists with racing bicycles usually use the road itself. According to Bicycle Victoria, over 7,000 riders were recorded using the road on one Saturday in September 2008 [1]. Numerous cycling clubs and less formal groups use the road for training sessions for road racing and triathlon. Cycling advocacy groups are presently campaigning for the removal of on-street parking on weekend mornings.[4] Beach Road has also been the subject of a local council and community campaign to limit truck traffic.[5][6]
Route
editBeach Road starts as Beach Street at the intersection with Bay Street in Port Melbourne (just east of Princes Pier) and heads southeast as a dual carriageway road, changing name to Beaconsfield Parade shortly after (near the Port Melbourne Life Saving Club) and running along the foreshore of the beach along Port Phillip Bay for the next 4 km (2.5 mi). At the intersection with Fitzroy Street at St Kilda, it changes name to Jacka Boulevard and runs past the St Kilda Sea Baths and southern edge of Luna Park, where it changes name again to Marine Parade, still following the coast. It intersects with Barkly Street and Glen Huntly Road just east of Point Ormond, changing name again to Ormond Esplanade, and narrowing to a four-lane single carriageway. At the northern edge of Brighton it intersects with and changes name to St. Kilda Street, running south through the suburbs of western Brighton, rejoining the coast outside Royal Brighton Yacht Club and changing name again to Esplanade. It continues further south along the coast until the intersection with South Road just outside Brighton Beach railway station, where it changes name for the final time as Beach Road, running along the beaches through Sandringham, Black Rock and Mentone before eventually terminating at Nepean Highway at Mordialloc.
History
editThe passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924[7] through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the declaration of State Highways and Main Roads, roads partially financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads). Beach Road was declared a Main Road in May 1935, from South Road in Brighton to Nepean Highway in Mordialloc.[2] After the passing of the Country Roads Act of 1958[8] (itself an evolution from the original Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924), the declaration was extended north on 7 September 1960,[9][10] from Bay Street in Port Melbourne, along Beach Street, Beaconsfield Parade, Lower Esplande (later renamed to Jacka Boulevard), Marine Parade, Ormond Esplanade, St Kilda Street and Esplanade to join with Beach Road proper,[9][10] but roads within this northern extension were still sign-posted as its constituent parts.
Beach Road (including all its constituent roads) was signed as Metropolitan Route 33 between Port Melbourne and Mordialloc in 1965. Metropolitan Route 26 previously ran concurrent along Beaconsfield Parade and Beach Street from Kerferd Road at Albert Park, past Bay Street at Port Melbourne eventually along Howe Parade to Williamstown Road; Metropolitan Route 26 was later truncated to terminate at Kerferd Road and Beaconsfield Parade in 1989.
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 Beach Road (Arterial #5840), from Bay Street in Port Melbourne to Nepean Highway in Mordialloc,[3] however the road is still presently known (and signposted) as its constituent parts.
Major intersections
edit| LGA | Location | km[1] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Phillip | Port Melbourne | 0.0 | 0.0 | Beach Street (north) – Port Melbourne | Northern terminus of Beach Road (declared) |
| Bay Street (Metro Routes 30/33 east) – South Melbourne, Southbank | Metro Route 33 heads east along Bay Street | ||||
| 0.3 | 0.19 | Esplanade East – Port Melbourne | Southern end of Beach Street Northern end of Beaconsfield Parade | ||
| Albert Park | 1.3 | 0.81 | Kerferd Road (Metro Road 26) – South Melbourne, Toorak, Belgrave | ||
| St Kilda West–St Kilda boundary | 3.8 | 2.4 | Fitzroy Street – St Kilda | Entrance and exit via Acland Street Southern end of Beaconsfield Parade Northern end of Jacka Boulevard | |
| St Kilda | 4.6 | 2.9 | Cavell Street – St Kilda, Luna Park | Southern end of Jacka Boulevard Northern end of Marine Parade | |
| Elster Creek | 5.7 | 3.5 | Bridge over river (name unknown) | ||
| Port Phillip | Elwood | 6.1 | 3.8 |  Barkly Street (Metro Route 29 north) – St Kilda, Collingwood, EppingGlen Huntly Road (east) – Elsternwick, Glen Huntly | Southern end of Marine Parade Northern end of Ormond Esplanade |
| Port Phillip–Bayside boundary | Elwood–Brighton boundary | 7.6 | 4.7 | St Kilda Street (north) – Elsternwick | Southern end of Ormond Eplanade Northern end of St Kilda Street |
| Bayside | Brighton | 8.4 | 5.2 |  North Road (Metro Road 18 east, unallocated west) – Ormond, Mulgrave, Clematis | |
| 9.7 | 6.0 | Grosvenor Street – Brighton | Southern end of St Kilda Street Northern end of Esplanade | ||
| 11.8 | 7.3 |  South Road (Metro Road 14) – Moorabbin, Noble Park, Harkaway | Southern end of Esplanade Northern end of Beach Road (sign-posted) | ||
| Brighton–Hampton boundary | 12.5 | 7.8 |  New Street (Metro Road 25) – Elsternwick, Prahran | Entrance northbound into and exit southbound from New Street only | |
| Sandringham | 14.9 | 9.3 | Bay Road – Highett, Westfield Southland | ||
| Black Rock | 17.9 | 11.1 |  Bluff Road (Metro Route 19 north) – Brighton East, Malvern, Kew Balcombe Road (Metro Route 10 east) – Mentone, Keysborough, Dandenong | ||
| Kingston | Mentone–Parkdale boundary | 24.4 | 15.2 |  Warrigal Road (Metro Route 15) – Mentone, Oakleigh, Surrey Hills | |
| Mordialloc | 26.9 | 16.7 | Nepean Highway (Metro Route 3) – St Kilda, Frankston, Portsea | Southern terminus of Metro Route 33 and Beach Road | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b "Beach Road" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ a b "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twenty-Second Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1935". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 31 October 1935. p. 25.
- ^ a b VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A)" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 930. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ "South: Route 33 - Beach Road cycling Route 33: The world's premier cycle training route". Bicycle Network. Bicycle Network. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ Nicholas Payne (20 July 2015). "Bayside Transport Action Group lobbying to get trucks off Beach Rd". Bayside Leader. News Corp. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ Nicholas Payne; Jon Andrews; Jordy Atkinson (2 July 2016). "Councils combine to demand trucks off Beach Rd on Saturday mornings". Bayside Leader. News Corp. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ 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
- ^ http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/hist_act/cra1958182.pdf State of Victoria, An Act to consolidate the Law relating to Country Roads 30 September 1958
- ^ a b "Country Roads Board Victoria. Forty-Seventh Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1960". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 21 November 1960. pp. 10–12.
- ^ a b "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 7 September 1960. pp. 2977–81. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
- ^ 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.