Northern Highway (Victoria)
The Northern Highway[2] is a secondary highway in northern Victoria. Along with the M/A79 Calder Highway (Melbourne to Mildura) and the M/A39 Goulburn Valley Highway (Melbourne to Tocumwal), it provides primary arterial links in the region. In conjunction with the B280 McIvor Highway, the B75 Northern Highway provides an important link between Melbourne and Bendigo.
Northern Highway | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Highway |
| Length | 166 km (103 mi)[1] |
| Route number(s) |  B75 (1997–present) |
| Former route number |
|
| Major junctions | |
| North end | Cobb Highway VIC/NSW border |
| South end |  Hume FreewayBeveridge, Victoria |
| Location(s) | |
| Major settlements | Rochester, Elmore, Heathcote, Kilmore, Wallan |
| Highway system | |
It runs from the M31 Hume Freeway south of Wallan to the New South Wales border at Echuca, on the banks of the Murray River, a distance of 166 kilometres. The highway traverses moderately hilly terrain from Wallan to Toolleen, then flat open country to the border at Echuca. Beyond Echuca across the NSW border, it continues as Cobb Highway.
The Northern Highway and the beginning of the McIvor Highway form a junction at Heathcote. The McIvor Highway leads to Bendigo and the Northern Highway continues to Echuca.
The B75 Northern Highway is a significant freight route providing access to markets, airport and port in Melbourne and the rural primary production areas of the Murray Valley and southern New South Wales. It serves a number of agricultural and tourism-related industries along its length.
History
The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924[3] 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 Northern Highway was declared a State Highway on 1 July, 1925,[4] cobbled from a collection of roads from Bendigo through Victoria (today the Midland Highway) and Rochester to Echuca (for a total of 55 miles); before this declaration, the road between Bendigo and Echuca was referred to as Bendigo-Echuca Road.[5] In the 1947/48 financial year, it was rerouted south of Elmore: instead of running from Bendigo, another section between the Hume Highway at Kilmore via Heathcote to Elmore was added,[6] along the former Heathcote-Elmore Road and Kilmore-Heathcote-Bendigo Roads;[7] the previous alignment of the Northern Highway from Elmore to Bendigo was subsumed into the Midland Highway. The Northern Highway was extended south for the last time from Kilmore to Beveridge (just south of Wallan) along the former Hume Highway alignment, when the Kilmore bypass was opened in 1976.
The Northern Highway was later signed National Route 75 in 1955; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was updated to route B75.
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004[8] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2007, VicRoads re-declared this road as Northern Highway (Arterial #6540), beginning in Echuca and ending in Beveridge.[9]
Attractions
References
- Google (14 October 2021). "Northern Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- Northern Highway (B75), Expressway – Paul Rands. Retrieved on 5 October 2013.
- 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. Twelfth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1925". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 31 December 1925. p. 3.
- "Country Roads Board Victoria. Second Annual Report". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 1 November 1915. p. 74.
- "Country Roads Board Victoria. Thirty-Fifth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1948". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 1 November 1948. p. 7.
- "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. pp. 92, 96.
- 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.
- VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A)" (PDF). Government of Victoria. pp. 972–3. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
