(The) Grand Ridge Road is a long tourist drive through Gippsland, in Victoria, Australia. As the name suggests, the road primarily follows ridgelines through the heavily undulating Strzelecki Ranges.
Grand Ridge Road | |
|---|---|
  West end East end | |
| Coordinates | |
| General information | |
| Type | Rural road |
| Length | 132 km (82 mi)[1] |
| Opened | 1925 |
| Route number(s) |
|
| Former route number |  State Route 190 (1986-1998)(Wonyip-Albert River) |
| Tourist routes |
|
| Major junctions | |
| West end |  Korumburra-Warragul RoadSeaview, Victoria |
 Strzelecki Highway | |
| East end |  Hyland HighwayWillung South, Victoria |
| Location(s) | |
| Major settlements | Mirboo North |
The road is known for the attractive scenery ranging from open farmland to dense forest, especially as it passes through Mount Worth State Park and Tarra Bulga National Park. Its surface ranges from good quality sealed bitumen to heavily corrugated unsealed gravel.
Route edit
Grand Ridge Road begins at the intersection Korumburra-Warragul Road in Seaview and runs in an easterly direction as a narrow dual-lane, single-carriageway sealed road via Allembee South to eventually meet the Strzelecki Highway at Mirboo North, where the road quality improves as a dual-lane single-carriageway rural highway. It continues east as a narrow sealed road just beyond Mirboo, where the road quality degrades further into a single-lane dirt and gravel mountain road as it winds through the eastern Strzelecki Ranges; many sections are quite steep and passing opportunities are usually possible only at road junctions. The road quality improves to a narrow dual-lane sealed road where it meets Tarra Valley Road, and continues east as a sealed road until its eastern terminus at the intersection with Hyland Highway in Willing South.
The unsealed section of the road is heavily used by logging trucks throughout the year. Large trees and branches often fall after high winds. This road is not recommended for caravans.
History edit
The construction of (The) Ridge Road was detailed in the Country Roads Board's annual review for the 1924/25 financial year,[2] running from Seaview, Mirboo, Gunyah, Ryton, through Balook, Blackwarry to Carrajung (for a total of 66 miles), described to "play an important part in the further development of the hill country of South Gippsland";[2] it was referred to as the Grand Ridge Road from 1933.[3]
A section of the road between Wonyip and Albert River was later declared as part of Midland Highway in 1939;[4] this was later incorporated back into the Grand Ridge Road when highway status was revoked in 1990.[5][6]
The Grand Ridge Road was signed as State Route 190 between Wonyip and Albert River (as part of the Midland Highway) in 1986; despite the revocation of the highway in 1990, this section was still signed as such until the change-over to the new alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, when all traces of the former route were removed. It is today signed as Tourist Route 93 for its entire route; its eastern section between Balook and Willung South is also signed Tourist Route 94 as part of the eastern loop of the Strzelecki Trail.
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 the road as The Grand Ridge Road (Arterial #4023) between Tarra Valley Road in Balook and Hyland Highway at Willung South;[8] the remaining section of Grand Ridge Road between Seaview and Balook remains undeclared.
Significant intersections edit
| LGA | Location[1][8] | km[1] | mi | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baw Baw | Seaview | 0.0 | 0.0 | Korumburra–Warragul Road (C425) – Korumburra, Warragul | Western terminus of road and Tourist Drive 93 |
| 4.8 | 3.0 | Warragul–Leongatha Road – Warragul | |||
| 8.3 | 5.2 | McDonalds Track – Yarragon | |||
| South Gippsland | Hallston | 24.2 | 15.0 | Leongatha–Yarragon Road – Leongatha | |
| Allambee South | 32.8 | 20.4 | Mirboo–Yarragon Road – Yarragon | ||
| Mirboo North | 39.1 | 24.3 | Strzelecki Highway (B460 west) – Leongatha, Inverloch | Western terminus of concurrency with route B460 | |
| 42.0 | 26.1 |  Meeniyan–Mirboo North Road (C455) – Dumbalk, Meeniyan | |||
| 42.5 | 26.4 | Strzelecki Highway (B460 east) – Morwell | Eastern terminus of concurrency with route B460 Western terminus of route C456 | ||
| 42.6 | 26.5 |  Baromi Road (Boolarra–Mirboo North Road) (C456) – Boolarra | Route C456 continues east; western terminus of route C457 | ||
| Mirboo | 56.6 | 35.2 |  Foster Road – Boolarra | Eastern terminus of route C457, route C458 continues south | |
| 56.6 | 35.2 | Olsens Road – Morwell River Falls Reserve | Eastern terminus route C458 | ||
| Gunyah | 69.8 | 43.4 | Boolarra–Foster Road – Foster | ||
| Wellington | Wonyip | 81.0 | 50.3 | Woorarra Road – Welshpool | |
| 85.4 | 53.1 | Albert River Road – Alberton West | |||
| Balook | 109.0 | 67.7 |  Tarra Valley Road (C484) – Yarram | Route C484 and Tourist Route 94 continues south | |
| 114.8 | 71.3 |  Traralgon–Balook Road (C483) – Traralgon | Tourist Route 94 continues north and east | ||
| Willung South | 132.2 | 82.1 | Hyland Highway (C482) – Traralgon, Yarram | Eastern terminus of road, route C484 and Tourist Route 93; Tourist Route 94 continues north | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||
Notes edit
- ^ a b c Google (10 October 2021). "Grand Ridge Road" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ^ a b "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twelfth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1925". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 31 December 1925. pp. 6–7.
- ^ "Country Roads Board Victoria. Twenty-First Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1934". Country Roads Board of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Government Library Service. 19 November 1934. pp. 8, 74.
- ^ "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. pp. 4, 14.
- ^ "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 15 August 1990. pp. 2502–5. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- ^ "Victorian Government Gazette". State Library of Victoria. 12 September 1990. pp. 2746–50. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b VicRoads. "VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) 2015" (PDF). Government of Victoria. p. 82. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
Sources edit
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