Hopkins Highway

Hopkins Highway is a short highway in south-western Victoria, Australia, serving to link Hamilton Highway at Mortlake with Princes Highway (and the western end of Great Ocean Road nearby) at the port city of Warrnambool. It is named after the Hopkins River, with which it runs in close proximity.

Route
Hopkins Highway commences at the intersection with Hamilton Highway on the western edge of Mortlake and runs in a south-westerly direction as a dual-lane, single-carriageway road, mostly following the course of Hopkins River, crossing it in Ellerslie. It eventually terminates at the intersection with Princes Highway in the centre of Warrnambool.

History
Within Victoria, the passing of the Country Roads Act of 1912 through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the establishment of the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads) and their ability to declare Main Roads, taking responsibility for the management, construction and care of the state's major roads from local municipalities. Mortlake-Warrnambool Road was declared a Main Road from Mortlake to Warrnambool.

The passing of the Transport Act of 1983 (itself an evolution from the original Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924 ) provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Road Construction Authority (later VicRoads). Hopkins Highway was declared a State Highway in December 1990, from Mortlake to Warrnambool, subsuming the original declaration of Mortlake-Warrnambool Road as a Main Road.

Hopkins Highway was signed as State Route 104 between Mortlake and Warrnambool in 1990; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, it was replaced by route B120.

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Hopkins Highway (Arterial #6010) between Hamilton Highway in Mortlake and Princes Highway at Warrnambool.

Upgrades

 * 1867 – Ellerslie Bridge, a large timber and masonry bridge over the Hopkins River at Ellerslie, at the crossing place then known as Letts Ford; it is Victoria's second-oldest positively dated timber-beam road bridge, originally opened 30 May 1867
 * 1967 – Ellerslie Bridge replacement, a 271 ft five-span prestressed concrete beam and reinforced concrete bridge, constructed adjacent to, and replacing, the timber version at 100 years old