Midland Highway (Victoria)

Midland Highway is a major rural highway linking major towns in Victoria, beginning from Geelong and winding through country Victoria in a large arc through the cities of Ballarat, Bendigo and Shepparton, eventually reaching Mansfield at the foothills of the Victorian Alps.

Midland Link Highway links Barjarg (on Midland Highway) and Maindample (on Maroondah Highway), bypassing Mansfield and reducing the journey from Benalla to Alexandra by 19 km.

Route
Midland Highway commences at the intersection of Melbourne Road at Geelong, and heads in an north-westerly direction as a four lane, dual-carriageway road through the western suburbs of Geelong until it reaches the interchange with Geelong Ring Road, where it narrows to a two-lane, single carriageway rural highway, continues north-east through Meredith and turning north to the southern suburbs of Ballarat, where it widens again to a four-lane, dual-carriageway road through central Ballarat, until a short distance south of the interchange with Western Freeway where the road narrows again to a two-lane, single carriageway. It continues in a north-eastly direction through Daylesford and Castlemaine, where it meets Calder Freeway just outside Harvourt and runs concurrent with it as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road until it reaches central Bendigo, when it narrows to a four-lane, single carriageway road and splits off to run north-east through Bendigo's suburbs of Epsom and Huntly, where it narrows back to a two-lane rural highway. It meets Northern Highway at Elmore, and continues in an easterly direction where it meets Goulburn Valley Highway in central Shepparton, before heading in a south-easterly direction to Benalla. It meets Hume Freeway at an interchange just south of the town, before continuing in a southerly direction. Midland Link Highway splits off at Barjang, where the highway continues in a south-easterly direction to eventually terminate at a roundabout in the town centre with Maroondah Highway in Mansfield.

History
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. Boolarra-Welshpool Road from Boolarra via Wonyip to Welshpool, and Jeeralang West Road from Morwell via Yinnar to Boolarra, were declared Main Roads on 1 December 1913; Geelong-Ballarat Road was declared a Main Road from Geelong to Lethbridge on 16 March 1914, and from Lethbridge through Meredith to Ballarat on 21 June 1915; Shepparton-(Mooroopna-)Tatura Road between Shepparton through Mooroopna to Tatura and Shepparton-(Nalinga-)Benalla Road between Shepparton through Nalinga to Benalla were declared Main Roads on 17 March 1915; Castlemaine-(Creswick-)Ballarat Road between Ballarat and Creswick (and continuing north to Newstead), and Daylesford-Ballarat Road between Daylesford and Newlyn] (and continuing south to Ballarat East, were declared Main Roads on 20 September 1915; and Castlemaine-Daylesford Road was declared a Main Road, between Castlemaine and Guildford on 28 June 1915, and between Guildford and Daylesford on 20 September 1915.

The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924 provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board. Midland Highway was declared a State Highway in 1933, cobbled together from roads between Geelong and Ballarat, between Shepparton and Benalla, and between Benalla to the turn-off road to Maindample in Barjang (for a total of 114 miles), subsuming the original declarations of Geelong-Ballarat Road and Shepparton-Benalla Road as Main Roads. In the 1947/48 financial year, another section from Shepparton via Stanhope to Elmore was added, subsuming the original declaration of Shepparton-Tatura Road and also along the former Shepparton–Elmore Road; with the realignment of Northern Highway south of Elmore running to Kilmore instead of to Bendigo declared at the same time, the previous alignment of Northern Highway between Elmore and Bendigo was also added to Midland Highway. In the 1959/60 financial year, the last section from Ballarat via Creswick and Daylesford to Castlemaine was added, subsuming the original declaration of Castlemaine-Daylesford Road, Castlemaine-Creswick-Ballarat Road (between Creswick and Ballarat) and Daylesford-Ballarat (between Daylesford and Newlyn) as Main Roads, and along the former Creswick–Daylesford Road. With the deviation of Calder Highway past Castlemaine declared at the same time, the previous alignment of Calder Highway between Castlemaine and Harcourt was also added to Midland Highway. With the highway running concurrent with Calder Highway between Harcourt and Bendigo, Midland Highway had finally achieved its present-day alignment at this stage. Midland Link Highway was later declared on 9 May 1983 along the former Maindample–Benalla Road, to act as a western bypass of Mansfield.

Midland Highway also had a separate, southern section through South Gippsland, declared in 1939, from Morwell through Boolarra to Welshpool (with the intention to be linked up in the future with the existing highway at Mansfield), subsuming the original declarations of Boolarra-Welshpool Road and Jeeralang West Road as Main Roads; it appears to have been extended to Port Welshpool by 1972, and a 9.6 km portion of highway through Yinnar was declared Midland Freeway in 1975, despite being only a single-carriageway road. The highway was re-routed with a 20 km deviation from south of Yinnar via Churchill to Princes Highway in eastern Morwell in 1976; the former alignment is now known as Yinnar Road and Brodribb Road (the latter signed route C468 in 1998). This section, eventually 88km long, was eventually stripped of both freeway and State Highway status: from south of Grand Ridge Road to Port Welshpool in August 1990, and from north of Grand Ridge Road to Morwell in September 1990 – replaced as a north–south route through South Gippsland by the recently-declared Strzelecki and Hyland Highways – and renamed into its current constituent parts (Monash Way, Budgeree Road, Woorarra Road and Port Welshpool Road), with the section between Wonyip and Albert River Road incorporated back into the Grand Ridge Road.

The alignment of the highway through southern Ballarat was altered in May 1990: previously running north through Buninyong along Warrenheip Street, Geelong Road, Main Road and along Western Highway to meet its northern half at Doveton Street North, it was re-aligned to its current route running west through Buninyong along Buninyong-Sebastopol Road via Sebastopol and then along Skipton Street and Doveton Street South (the former alignment of Glenelg Highway, truncated back to Sebastopol at the same time) to meet its northern half directly at Sturt Street; the former alignment is now known as Ballarat-Buninyong Road (signed route C294 in 1998).

Midland Highway was signed as State Route 149 between Geelong and Benalla, State Route 153 between Benalla and Barjang, Alternative State Route 153 between Barjang and Mansfield, and State Route 190 between Morwell and Port Welshpool in 1986; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was replaced by route A300 between Geelong and Benalla, route B300 between Benalla and Barjang, and route C518 between Barjang and Mansfield; despite highway status being removed between Morwell and Port Welshpool, the former highway alignment continued to be signed as State Route 190 until the change-over to the new alphanumeric system, when all traces of the former route were removed. Midland Link Highway was signed State Route 153 between Barjang and Maindample in 1986, and was later replaced by route B300.

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 Midland Link Highway (Arterial #6030) from Midland Highway in Barjang to Maroondah Highway in Maindample, and in 2004 re-declared Midland Highway (Arterial #6590) to begin at Corio-Waurn Ponds Road (Princes Highway) in Geelong and end at Maroondah Highway in Mansfield.