# Docklands Highway

Docklands Highway is an urban highway stretching 12 kilometres from Brooklyn in Melbourne's inner western suburbs to the Docklands precinct, adjacent to the city. This name covers many consecutive streets and is not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the names of its constituent parts: Francis Street, Whitehall Street, Moreland Street, Napier Street, Footscray Road, Dudley Street and Wurundjeri Way. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion.

## Route

Docklands Highway commences as Francis Street at the intersection with Geelong Road and Millers Road in Brooklyn and heads east as a dual-lane, single-carriageway road, crossing the Newport–Sunshine railway line shortly after and widens to a four-lane, single-carriageway road, continuing east through Yarraville, before turning north along Whitehall Street through the eastern fringes of Footscray (southbound traffic uses Moreland Street for the last 500 metres), before it turns east and runs along Napier Street across the Maribyrnong River and continues east as Footscray Road as an eight-lane, dual-carriageway road through the industrial precinct of West Melbourne. It meets Docklands Drive and Harbour Esplanade on the northern borders of Docklands, turning east to run briefly along Dudley Street before turning south again to run along Wurundjeri Way, as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road, until it meets Flinders Street and turns west briefly to cross the Yarra River over the Charles Grimes Bridge as a six-lane, dual-carriageway road, until terminating at Montague Street shortly afterwards under the interchange with West Gate Freeway.

## History

Footscray Road was signed as State Route 32 between Footscray and West Melbourne in 1965; State Route 35 was re-routed from Hyde Street to Whitehall Street in 1989, while State Route 50 formed a concurrency along Whitehall Street in the same year; State Route 30 was extended west from Flinders Street along North Wharf Road and across the Charles Grimes Bridge also in 1989; this alignment was subsumed into Wurundjeri Way in 1999. National Highway 31 was re-aligned to run along Wurundjeri Way when it opened in 1999; this was replaced by State Route 55 in 2005.
The passing of the Transport Act of 1983 (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 Road Construction Authority (later VicRoads). State Highway (Francis Street) and State Highway (Whitehall Street/Moreland Street) were declared State Highways in June 1990, along Francis Street from Geelong Road in Brooklyn to Whitehall Street in eastern Yarraville, and then along Whitehall and Moreland Streets to Footscray Road in eastern Footscray. These two highways were fused into one a year later, re-declared the Docklands Highway, and extended east along Napier Street across the Maribyrnong River in June 1991. It was extended again along Footscray Road, across the Yarra River over the Charles Grimes Bridge to end at the interchange of Montague Street with the West Gate Freeway in September 1994, later re-aligned along Dudley Street and Wurundjeri Way when the latter opened in 1999; all roads were known (and signposted) as their constituent parts.
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 Docklands Highway (Arterial #6120), from Geelong Road in Brooklyn to Montague Street in Southbank, and as before, all roads are still presently known (and signposted) as their constituent parts.

## Major intersections

| LGA | Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes |
| Hobsons Bay | Brooklyn | 0.0 | 0.0 | Geelong Road (Metro Route 83 southwest, Metro Routes 41/83 northeast) – Laverton North, Footscray | Western terminus of highway (declared), western end of Francis Street |
| Hobsons Bay | Brooklyn | 0.0 | 0.0 | Millers Road (Metro Route 41 south) – Altona, Altona Meadows | Westbound traffic left turn only into Millers Road Access to Geelong Road via service road |
| Hobsons Bay | Brooklyn | 0.7 | 0.43 | Newport–Sunshine railway line | Newport–Sunshine railway line |
| Stony Creek | Stony Creek | 2.5 | 1.6 | Bridge (name unknown) | Bridge (name unknown) |
| Maribyrnong | Yarraville | 2.8 | 1.7 | Williamstown Road (Metro Route 37) – Kingsville, Williamstown | |
| Maribyrnong | Yarraville | 3.4 | 2.1 | Werribee and Williamstown railway lines | Werribee and Williamstown railway lines |
| Maribyrnong | Yarraville | 4.1 | 2.5 | Hyde Street (Metro Route 35 south, unallocated north) – Kingsville, Williamstown | Metro Route 35 continues south along Hyde Street |
| Maribyrnong | Yarraville | 4.3 | 2.7 | Francis Street (east) – Holden Oil Dock | Western end of Francis Street, southern end of Whitehall Street |
| Maribyrnong | Yarraville | 5.1 | 3.2 | Somerville Road (Metro Route 50 west, unallocated east) – Kingsville, Sunshine West | Southern terminus of concurrency of Metro Routes 35 and 50 |
| Maribyrnong | Footscray | 6.2 | 3.9 | Napier Street (Metro Route 32 west) – West Footscray, Sunshine West Whitehall Street (Metro Routes 35/50 north) – Footscray | Northern end of Whitehall Street, western end of Napier Street Metro Route 32 continues west along Napier Street, Metro Routes 35 and 50 continue north along Whitehall Street Northern terminus of concurrency of Metro Routes 35 and 50 |
| Maribyrnong | Footscray | 6.3 | 3.9 | Moreland Street – Footscray | Northern half of Moreland Street one-way northbound only Southern half of Moreland Street used as southbound section of highway through Footscray Eastern end of Napier Street, western end of Footscray Road |
| Maribyrnong River | Maribyrnong River | 6.4 | 4.0 | Shepherd Bridge | Shepherd Bridge |
| Melbourne | West Melbourne | 6.8 | 4.2 | MacKenzie Road (south) – Coode Island Sims Street (north) – West Melbourne | |
| Melbourne | West Melbourne | 7.3 | 4.5 | Dock Link Road – West Melbourne, Swanson Dock | |
| Melbourne | West Melbourne | 8.4 | 5.2 | Appleton Dock Road – West Melbourne, Appleton Dock | |
| Melbourne | West Melbourne | 8.9 | 5.5 | CityLink (M2) – Melbourne Airport, Port Melbourne | |
| Moonee Ponds Creek | Moonee Ponds Creek | 9.0 | 5.6 | Bridge (name unknown) | Bridge (name unknown) |
| Melbourne | Docklands | 9.8 | 6.1 | Docklands Drive (west) – Docklands Harbour Esplanade (south) – Docklands | Southern end of Footscray Road, western end of Dudley Street |
| Melbourne | Docklands | 10.0 | 6.2 | Dudley Street (Metro Routes 32/55 east) – City | Eastern end of Dudley Street, northern end of Wurundjeri Way Metro Routes 32 and 55 continue east along Dudley Street |
| Melbourne | Docklands | 10.9 | 6.8 | Bourke Street – Docklands, Docklands Stadium | |
| Melbourne | Docklands | 11.3 | 7.0 | Flinders Street – City | Northern terminus of concurrency with Metro Routes 30 and 55 and Tourist Route 2 |
| Yarra River | Yarra River | 11.6– 11.9 | 7.2– 7.4 | Charles Grimes Bridge | Charles Grimes Bridge |
| Melbourne | Docklands | 11.9 | 7.4 | Harbour Esplanade (north) – Docklands | Northbound exit only |
| Melbourne | Docklands | 12.0 | 7.5 | Lorimer Street – Fishermans Bend, Jeff's Shed | |
| Melbourne–Port Phillip boundary | Docklands–South Melbourne boundary | 12.1 | 7.5 | West Gate Freeway (M1 east, M1/Tourist Route 2 west) – Geelong, Dandenong | Southern terminus of concurrency with Metro Routes 30 and 55 and Tourist Route 2 Tourist Route 2 continues west along West Gate Freeway |
| Melbourne–Port Phillip boundary | Docklands–South Melbourne boundary | 12.1 | 7.5 | Montague Street (Metro Route 30 south) – South Melbourne | Eastern terminus of highway (declared), southern end of Wurundjeri Way and Metro Route 55 Metro Route 30 continues south along Montague Street |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus Incomplete access Route transition ||||||