Loddon Valley Highway

Loddon Valley Highway Victoria
North end South end
Coordinates	35.763115°S 143.931115°E / -35.763115; 143.931115 (North end) 36.755631°S 144.263621°E / -36.755631; 144.263621 (South end)
General information
Type	Highway
Length	124 km (77 mi)[3]
Gazetted	September 1915 (as Main Road)[1] 1946 (as State Highway)[2]
Route number(s)	B260 (1998–present)
Former route number	State Route 141 (1986–1998)
Major junctions
North end	Murray Valley Highway Kerang, Victoria
	Boort–Pyramid Road
South end	Calder Highway Ironbark, Bendigo
Location(s)
Region	Loddon Mallee[4]
Major settlements	Durham Ox, Serpentine, Eaglehawk
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Victoria

Loddon Valley Highway runs roughly north-west from Bendigo to Kerang.^[5] It constitutes part of the direct route from Melbourne to the popular Murray River holiday areas around Swan Hill.

Route

Loddon Valley Highway commences at the intersection with Murray Valley Highway just south of the fringes of Kerang and heads in a southerly direction as a dual-lane single carriageway rural highway, running parallel to the Loddon River a short distance to the west of the road for much of its length. It continues south through Durham Ox until it reaches Serpentine, where it veers more to the south-east away from the river course, passing through the hills around Eaglehawk on the outskirts of Greater Bendigo, before it eventually terminates at the intersection with Calder Highway in Ironbark, in the north-western suburbs of Bendigo.

History

Within Victoria, the passing of the Country Roads Act of 1912^[6] 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. Bendigo-Serpentine Road was declared a Main Road from Bendigo to Yarraberb on 20 September 1915,^[1] and Loddon Valley Road from Kerang through Durham Ox to Serpentine was declared a Main Road in the 1937/38 financial year.^[7]

The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924^[8] provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board. Loddon Valley Highway was declared a State Highway in 1946,^[2] from Kerang via Serpentine to Bendigo, subsuming the original declarations of Loddon Valley Road and Bendigo-Serpentine Road as Main Roads.

Loddon Valley Highway was signed as State Route 141 between Kerang and Bendigo in 1986; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was replaced by route B260.

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 Loddon Valley Highway (Arterial #6630), beginning at Murray Valley Highway at Kerang and ending at Calder Highway in Ironbark, Bendigo.^[5]

Major intersections

LGA	Location[3][5]	km[3]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Gannawarra	Kerang	0.0	0.0	Murray Valley Highway (B400) – Kerang, Swan Hill, Cohuna, Echuca	Northern terminus of highway and route B260
Loddon	Durham Ox	40.6	25.2	Boort–Pyramid Road (C267 east) – Pyramid Hill, Cohuna	Concurrency with route C267
		42.3	26.3	Boort–Pyramid Road (C267 west) – Boort, Wycheproof
	Jarklin	52.5	32.6	Boort–Mitiamo Road (C334) – Mitiamo, Echuca
	Serpentine	75.2	46.7	Bridgewater–Serpentine Road (C274) – Bridgewater On Loddon, Dunolly
Greater Bendigo	Woodvale	115.5	71.8	Swan Hill railway line
	Eaglehawk	119.1	74.0	Sailors Gully Road (Bendigo–Pyramid Road) (C336) – Pyramid Hill
	California Gully	120.2	74.7	Swan Hill railway line
		120.3	74.8	Sandhurst Road (C329) – Bendigo, Heathcote	Traffic light intersection
	Long Gully	122.0	75.8	Holdsworth Road (C333) – White Hills
		122.7	76.2	Creeth Street (Golden Square–Long Gully Road) (C323) – West Bendigo, Golden Square	Traffic light intersection
	Ironbark	123.8	76.9	Calder Highway (A79) – Marong, Mildura, Bendigo, Melbourne	Southern terminus of highway and route B260 at traffic light intersection
Concurrency terminus       Route transition

See also

• Highways in Australia
• Highways in Victoria

References

1. "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 16 August 1915. p. 3123. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
2. "Country Roads Board Victoria. Thirty-Third Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1946". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 3 December 1946. p. 5.
3. "Loddon Valley Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
4. "Victoria's Regions". Regional Development Victoria. Victoria State Government. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
5. VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads 2024" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 940. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
6. An Act relating to Country Roads State of Victoria, 23 December 1912
7. "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twenty-Fifth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1938". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 24 November 1938. p. 14.
8. An Act to make further provision with respect to Highways and Country Roads Motor Cars and Traction Engines and for other purposes State of Victoria, 30 December 1924
9. 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.