Pyrenees Highway is a rural highway in western Victoria, Australia, linking Glenelg Highway in Glenthompson to Calder Highway in Elphinstone. It intersects with the region's major road freight route, Western Highway in Ararat, in addition to Midland Highway in Castlemaine and Sunraysia Highway in Avoca. It was named after the Pyrenees ranges the highway runs through. This name covers many consecutive roads which are not widely known to most drivers except for the easternmost section, as the entire allocation is best known by the name of its last constituent part: Maroona–Glenthompson Road, Mortlake–Ararat Road and Pyrenees Highway proper. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion, as well to avoid confusion between declarations.
Pyrenees Highway Maroona–Glenthompson Road, Mortlake–Ararat Road | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pyrenees Highway at Elmhurst | |
  West end East end | |
| Coordinates | |
| General information | |
| Type | Highway |
| Length | 205 km (127 mi)[1] |
| Opened | 1938 |
| Route number(s) |  B180 (1998–present) |
| Former route number |  State Route 122 (1986–1998)(Ararat–Elphinstone) |
| Major junctions | |
| West end |  Glenelg HighwayGlenthompson, Victoria |
| East end |  Calder FreewayElphinstone, Victoria |
| Location(s) | |
| Major settlements | Willaura, Ararat, Amphitheatre, Avoca, Maryborough, Newstead, Castlemaine, Chewton |
| Highway system | |
In 1855, the Victorian Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act 1855, severely limiting the number of Chinese passengers permitted on an arriving vessel. To evade the new law, ship's captains landed many Chinese in the south-east of South Australia, from where the new arrivals travelled more than 400 km across country to the Victorian goldfields, along tracks including what is now the Pyrenees Highway.[2][3]
History edit
Construction of a replacement Glenmona Bridge as a wrought-iron lattice-girder deck-truss bridge over Bet Bet Creek at Bung Bong was completed in 1871, and still stands, minus the deck, today; it replaced a timber structure from 1857 which was washed away by severe floods in 1870. It is the third-oldest of its type in Victoria, is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register,[4] and stands just to the south of the modern-day bridge used today by the highway.
The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924[5] 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 Pyrenees Highway was declared a State Highway in August 1938,[6] cobbled together from roads between the Calder Highway at Castlemaine, via Maryborough and Avoca to Ararat (for a total of 92.5 miles); before this declaration, these roads were referred to as Castlemaine–Maryborough Road, Maryborough–Avoca Road and Avoca–Ararat Road.[7] With the deviation of the Calder Highway past Castlemaine declared in the 1959/60 financial year,[8] the previous alignment of the Calder Highway between Castlemaine and Elphinstone was also added to the Pyrenees Highway. Its western end was later extended from Ararat to Glenthompson in the 2000s.
Pyrenees Highway was signed as State Route 122 between Ararat and Elphinstone in 1986; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was replaced by route B180, extended to Glenthompson at the same time the highway was extended.
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004[9] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Maroona–Glenthompson Road (Arterial #5109) from Glenelg Highway in Glenthompson to Maroona,[10] as Mortlake–Ararat Road (Arterial #5100) between Maroona and Ararat,[11] and in 2011 as Pyrenees Highway (Arterial #6740) between Western Highway in Ararat and Calder Freeway at Elphinstone;[12] while the road south of Ararat is signed solely as B180, it is still usually referred to as part of the Pyrenees Highway.
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Google (13 October 2021). "Pyrenees Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ "Chinese Immigration Act 1855 (Vic)". Documenting a Democracy. Museum of Australian Democracy. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
- ^ "The Chinese Trek to Gold" (PDF). Australian Heritage. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
- ^ "Glenmona Bridge". 3 September 1999.
- ^ 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. Twenty-Sixth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1939". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 10 November 1939. p. 4.
- ^ "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twenty-First Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1934". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 19 November 1934. pp. 92, 98, 102.
- ^ "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. 7–8.
- ^ 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) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 225. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 215. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. pp. 1003–4. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
External links edit
Media related to Pyrenees Highway at Wikimedia Commons