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Mount Alexander Road

Bulla Road

Victoria
Mount Alexander Road; Bulla Road; Victoria
	Mount Alexander Road in Essendon
	Northwest end Southeast end
Coordinates	37°44′05″S 144°54′15″E / 37.734807°S 144.904213°E (Northwest end); 37°47′16″S 144°56′26″E / 37.787810°S 144.940482°E (Southeast end);
General information
Type	Road
Length	6.8 km (4.2 mi)
Gazetted	September 1960
Route number(s)	Metro Route 37 (1970–present); (Essendon North–Essendon);
Former; route number	Metro Route 40 (1965–1970); (Essendon North–Essendon); Alt. National Route 79 (1970–1989); National Route 79 (1955–1970); (Essendon–Parkville);
Major junctions
Northwest end	CityLink; Tullamarine Freeway; Strathmore, Melbourne
	Lincoln Road; Pascoe Vale Road; Ascot Vale Road; Maribyrnong Road; Ormond Road; CityLink;
Southeast end	Flemington Road; Parkville, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbs	Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale

Mount Alexander Road (and its northern section as Bulla Road) is a major road in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs, connecting the northern edges of the city district to just south of Essendon Airport.^[3] It was named after its original destination: the Gold Fields of Mount Alexander, now known as Castlemaine.

Route

The road starts as Bulla Road, outside the entrance to the Essendon Airport retail park, crossing Tullamarine Freeway and CityLink to the elongated roundabout where Keilor and Lincoln Roads meet in Essendon. It changes name to Mount Alexander Road and continues heading south to Moonee Ponds as a wide dual-carriageway with a plantation separating northbound and southbound traffic, until it reaches the intersection with Pascoe Vale and Ascot Vale Roads at Moonee Ponds Junction. It continues south as a four-lane single-carriageway road, sharing tram tracks along the roadway through Ascot Vale, then forming the boundary between Flemington and Travancore, before eventually crossing Moonee Ponds Creek underneath the CityLink sound-tube and arriving at the intersection with the CityLink ramps, Boundary and Flemington Roads in Parkville.

Melbourne tram route 59 runs along the majority of the road, sharing traffic lanes with motor vehicles between Flemington Road and Moonee Ponds Junction, and along reserved tracks between Fletcher Street and Keilor Road in Essendon. Essendon tram depot is also located on the road, in the suburb of Travancore.

History

Mount Alexander Road originally ran north from Flemington Road in Parkville to Pascoe Vale Road at Moonee Ponds Junction. The passing of the Country Roads Act of 1958^[4] (itself an evolution from the original Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924^[5]) provided for the declaration of State Highways and Main Roads, roads partially financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads). A northern extension to the existing declaration of Mount Alexander Road, from Moonee Ponds Junction to the intersection with Bendigo Road (today Keilor Road) and Sunbury Road (today Bulla Road) in northern Essendon, was declared a Main Road on 7 September 1960.^[2]^[6]

Mount Alexander Road linked Bendigo Road (and the Calder Highway beyond) to central Melbourne, and was signed as National Route 79 between Essendon and Parkville in 1955; once the Tullamarine Freeway extension to Parkville opened in 1970 and National Route 79 was re-routed onto the new freeway, the old route was replaced with Alternative National Route 79, until it was removed in 1989. Bulla Road was allocated Metro Route 37, extended north from Lincoln Road to Tullamarine Freeway, when the Tullamarine Freeway extension opened in 1970, replacing former Metropolitan Route 40.

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004^[7] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared Mount Alexander Road (Arterial #5824) from Flemington Road in Parkville to the ramps of the "Western Link Tollway" (CityLink's Western link) in Strathmore, south of Essendon Airport;^[3] this declaration formally includes today's Bulla Road, but signposts along this section have kept its original name.

Major intersections

Mount Alexander Road is entirely contained within the City of Moonee Valley local government area.

Location^[1]^[3]	km^[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Essendon Fields–Essendon North–Strathmore tripoint	0.0	0.0	Tullamarine Freeway (M2 west) – Tullamarine, Melbourne Airport CityLink (M2 east) – Docklands, Port Melbourne	Northern terminus of Mount Alexander Road (declared), Bulla Road (sign-posted) and Metro Route 37
Essendon North–Strathmore–Essendon tripoint	0.8	0.50	Woodland Street – Pascoe Vale South
Essendon North–Essendon border	1.2	0.75	Keilor Road (west) – Niddrie Lincoln Road (Metro Route 37 south) – Footscray, Williamstown	Southern terminus of Bulla Road (sign-posted), Metro Route 37 continues south along Lincoln Road Northern terminus of Mount Alexander Road (sign-posted)
Essendon–Moonee Ponds border	2.8	1.7	Buckley Street – Keilor East, Essendon
Moonee Ponds	3.7	2.3	Kellaway Avenue – Moonee Ponds	Pascoe Vale Road northbound from Moonee Ponds Junction via Kellaway Avenue
	4.0	2.5	Puckle Street (west) – Moonee Ponds Dean Street (east) – Moonee Ponds	No right turn northbound into Dean Street, no right turn southbound into Puckle Street
	4.0	2.5	Pascoe Vale Road (Metro Route 35 north) – Broadmeadows, Coolaroo Ascot Vale Road (Metro Route 35 south) – Flemington, Williamstown	No right turn northbound into Pascoe Vale Road, no left turn northbound into Ascot Vale Road
Moonee Ponds–Ascot Vale border	4.7	2.9	Maribyrnong Road (Metro Route 38 west) – Sunshine, Maribyrnong Ormond Road (Metro Route 38 east) – Brunswick, Northcote
Flemington–Travancore border	6.6	4.1	CityLink (M2) – Tullamarine, Melbourne Airport	Northbound entrance and southbound exit only
Flemington–Parkville border	6.8	4.2	Boundary Road – North Melbourne
Flemington–Parkville border	6.8	4.2	Flemington Road (Metro Route 60) – City	Southern terminus of Mount Alexander Road, Metro Route 60 continues south-east along Flemington Road
Incomplete access Route transition