State (Lower Dandenong/Cheltenham) Highway

State (Lower Dandenong/Cheltenham) Highway (after its longest constituent parts), is a major arterial road in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. These names are not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the names of its constituent parts: Lower Dandenong Road, Cheltenham Road, and Foster Street. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion.

Route
Lower Dandenong Road (and the beginning of the highway) starts at the interchange with Nepean Highway, Mentone, and heads east as a four-lane single-carriageway road until it meets Boundary Road in Braeside, where it widens into a four-lane, dual-carriageway road and continues east, widening again into a six-lane, dual-carriageway highway past the full diamond interchange with Mornington Peninsula Freeway, continuing east until it reaches the intersection with Springvale Road. As Cheltenham Road it continues east through Keysborough past the half diamond interchange with EastLink, until it meets Hammond Road in Dandenong, where it narrows back into a four-lane, single-carriageway road, crosses under the Pakenham and Cranbourne railway lines, intersects with and changes name to Foster Street, before it (and the end of the highway) ends at the intersection with Princes Highway in central Dandenong.

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. Cheltenham Road was declared a Main Road on 1 December 1913, from Dandenong through Keysborough to Dingley Village.

The passing of the Country Roads Act of 1958 (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 Country Roads Board. Lower Dandenong Road was declared a Main Road on 9 May 1983, from the intersection with Nepean Highway in Mentone to meet Cheltenham Road in Keysborough.

The passing of the Transport Act of 1983 updated the definition of State Highways. State Highway (Lower Dandenong Road, Cheltenham Road) was declared a State Highway by VicRoads in December 1990, from Nepean Highway in Mentone to Lonsdale Street in Dandenong, subsuming the original declarations of Lower Dandenong Road, and Cheltenham Road between Keysborough and Dandenong, as Main Roads; the route was known (and signposted) as its constituent parts.

The route (as its constituent roads) was allocated Metropolitan Route 10 between Mentone and Dandenong in 1965, continuing west beyond Nepean Highway along entire length of Balcombe Road to Black Rock.

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 State (Lower Dandenong/Cheltenham) Highway (Arterial #6050), from Nepean Highway in Mentone to Lonsdale Street in Dandenong, however the road is still presently known (and signposted) as its constituent parts.