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Great Alpine Road

Victoria
Great Alpine Road; Victoria
Coordinates	36°21′05″S 146°20′01″E / 36.351303°S 146.333581°E (Northwest end); 37°49′08″S 147°38′58″E / 37.818843°S 147.649329°E (Southeast end);
General information
Type	Highway
Length	303.7 km (189 mi)
Gazetted	November 1914 (as Main Road); 1947/48 (as State Highway)
Route number(s)	B500 (1996–present)
Former; route number	State Route 156 (1986–1996); (Wangaratta–Omeo); State Route 195 (1986–1996); (Omeo–Bairnsdale);
Major junctions
Northwest end	Wangaratta Road; Wangaratta, Victoria
	Hume Freeway; Omeo Highway; Bruthen–Nowa Nowa Road;
Southeast end	Princes Highway; Bairnsdale, Victoria
Location(s)
Major settlements	Myrtleford, Ovens, Eurobin, Bright, Harrietville, Mount Hotham, Dinner Plain, Omeo, Swifts Creek, Ensay, Bruthen
Highway system
	Highways in Australia; National Highway • Freeways in Australia; Highways in Victoria; ; ;

The Great Alpine Road is a country tourist road in Victoria, Australia, running from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, passing through the Victorian Alps.^[4] The road was given its current name because it was considered the mountain equivalent to Victoria's world-famous Great Ocean Road in the south-west of the state.^{[citation needed]} The road usually remains open during winter; however, vehicles travelling between Harrietville and Omeo are required to carry diamond-pattern^[5] snow chains during the declared snow season.^[6]

Route

The Great Alpine Road^[7] links Wangaratta with Bairnsdale, winding through mountains, valleys and forests, and past rivers, vineyards and farms. At a length of 304 kilometres (189 mi), it is Australia's highest year-round accessible sealed road. The section over Mount Hotham rises to an altitude of 1,840 metres (6,040 ft) AMSL.^[8] It is blanketed with snow during winter months and must be cleared on a daily basis. Extreme weather conditions can sometimes still result in the road being closed between Harrietville and Omeo.

The road itself has existed since colonial times in some form, but was unsealed for much of its history; its last portions were sealed between Slatey Cutting and Dinner Plain in the 1996–97 financial year (when the road was renamed the Great Alpine Road),^[9] and the 12 km between Dinner Plain and Horsehair Plain in the 1997–98 financial year.^[10]

History

The passing of the Country Roads Act of 1912^[11] through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the establishment of the Country Roads Board (CRB, 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. Bright Road from Myrtleford to Bright, and Harrietville Road from Bright to Harrietville, were declared Main Roads on 16 November 1914.^[1]

In 1923, the CRB took responsibility for the Alpine Road between Harrietville and Omeo, and appointed William Benjamin (Bill) Spargo (1888–1959) as supervisor.^[12] He lived in a stone cottage at Hotham Heights, which the CRB expanded, at his request, to accommodate up to twenty visiting skiers. From 1925, the premises operated as a guesthouse, Hotham Cottage (Hotham Heights Chalet). This was the forerunner of the Hotham Alpine Resort.

The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924^[13] provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board. Ovens Highway was declared a State Highway within Victoria in the 1947/48 financial year,^[2] from Wangaratta via Myrtleford to Bright (for a total of 47.5 miles), subsuming the original declarations of Bright Road and Harrietville Road as Main Roads; before this declaration, the road was also referred to as (The) Alpine Road.^[14] The highway was eventually extended from Bright further along Alpine Road to Harrietville in September 1993.^[15]

Ovens Highway and Alpine Road, from Wangaratta to Omeo, along with the southern section of Omeo Highway from Omeo via Bruthen^[16] to Bairnsdale, was renamed the Great Alpine Road in late 1996;^[9] the southern terminus of Omeo Highway was truncated to Omeo as a result.

Ovens Highway, and the remainder of Alpine Road beyond, was signed as State Route 156 between Wangaratta and Omeo in 1986; Omeo Highway was signed as State Route 195. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, and with its recent declaration as Great Alpine Road, its former route numbers were replaced with route B500 in late 1996.^[9]

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004^[17] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Great Alpine Road (Arterial #4005), beginning at Wangaratta Road at Wangaratta and ending at Princes Highway in Bairnsdale.^[4]

Gallery of some notable sights

The Great Alpine Road descending "The Gap" between Omeo and Swifts Creek.
The Australian Alps from the Great Alpine Road on Mount Hotham.
View from Myrtleford to Mount Buffalo National Park.
The Great Alpine Road winds across Mount Hotham, clinging to the side and ridge of the mountain

Major intersections, towns and resorts

LGA	Location^[3]^[4]	km^[3]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Wangaratta	Wangaratta	0.0	0.0	Wangaratta Road – Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Wodonga	Northwestern terminus of road and route B500
	East Wangaratta	4.2	2.6	Hume Highway – Seymour, Wodonga, Melbourne
	Tarrawingee	11.0	6.8	Beechworth–Wangaratta Road (C315) – Beechworth, Yackandandah
	Bowmans Forest	33.7	20.9	Buckland Gap Road (C524) – Beechworth
Alpine	Gapsted	39.4	24.5	Snow Road – Milawa, Glenrowan
	Myrtleford	44.8	27.8	Myrtleford–Yackandandah Road (C527) – Yackandandah
	Myrtleford	45.2	28.1	Buffalo River Road (C526) – Lake Buffalo
	Ovens	50.1	31.1	Happy Valley Road (C534) – Mount Beauty
	Porepunkah	69.9	43.4	Mount Buffalo Road (C535) – Mount Buffalo	Roundabout
	Bright	75.7	47.0	Anderson Street – Bright, to Morses Creek Road – Wandiligong
	Germantown	81.3	50.5	Tawonga Gap Road (C536) – Mount Beauty
	Harrietville	100.7	62.6	Mill Road – Harrietville
	Hotham Heights	121.0	75.2	Dargo High Plains Road – Dargo, Bairnsdale	Summer season only road
	Mount Hotham	132.4	82.3	Davenport Drive – Mount Hotham
	Dinner Plain	142.2	88.4	Horseshoe Circuit – Dinner Plain
	Cobungra	152.5	94.8	Mount Hotham Airport Road – Mount Hotham Airport
East Gippsland	Omeo	182.7	113.5	Cassilis Road – Cassilis
	Omeo	186.3	115.8	Omeo Highway (C543) – Benambra, Tallangatta
	Swifts Creek	211.9	131.7	Cassilis Road – Cassilis
	Ensay	230.9	143.5	Ensay-Doctors Flat Road – Ensay
	Bruthen	281.2	174.7	Bruthen–Nowa Nowa Road (C620) – Buchan, Orbost
	Wiseleigh	284.5	176.8	Sarsfield–Tambo Upper Road (C605) – Swan Reach
	Lucknow	303.7	188.7	Princes Highway (A1) – Lakes Entrance, Orbost, Bairnsdale, Melbourne	Southeastern terminus of road and route B500 at roundabout
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Route transition

References

^ ^a ^b "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 25 November 1914. p. 5287. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Country Roads Board Victoria. Thirty-Fifth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1948". Country Roads Board. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 1 November 1948. p. 7.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Great Alpine Road" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads 2024". Government of Victoria. p. 58. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
^ Mount Hotham, Wheel Chains
^ Travel Victoria, Great Alpine Road
^ "Great Alpine Road". Tourism Victoria. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
^ "Mt Hotham Section". Google Maps. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c "VicRoads Annual Report 1996–97". VicRoads. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 27 August 1997. pp. 17, 24.
^ "VicRoads Annual Report 1997–98". VicRoads. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 31 August 1998. p. 36.
^ An Act relating to Country Roads State of Victoria, 23 December 1912
^ Garden, Donald S (2002). "Spargo, William Benjamin (Bill) (1888–1959)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
^ 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
^ "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twenty-Sixth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1939". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 10 November 1939. p. 105.
^ "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 2 September 1993. p. 2458. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
^ 8423 Omeo, Victoria, Topographic Map. National Topographic Map Series (1 ed.). Commonwealth of Australia. 1982.
^ 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.