Flemington Road is a major thoroughfare in the inner suburbs of

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

and Parkville in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

. It runs for 2 km in a northwest–southeast direction, from the southern end of

Mount Alexander Road 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. It was named after its original destina ...

, Flemington, to Haymarket roundabout and the northern end of Elizabeth Street, and provides a main connection between the northern arm of the

CityLink CityLink is a network of tollways in Melbourne, Australia, linking the Tullamarine, West Gate and Monash Freeways and incorporating Bolte Bridge, Burnley Tunnel and other works. In 1996, Transurban was awarded the contract to augment two ex ...

tollway A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemente ...

and Melbourne's CBD.

Route

Flemington Road starts at the intersection of Boundary Road and the southbound ramp from CityLink and heads south-east as an eight-lane wide dual-carriageway, with a dedicated tram median down the centre; after passing the intersection with Racecourse Road and Elliot Avenue, the carriageways divide further to form a four-lane central carriageway with dedicated tram median, flanked by two-lane, one-way carriageways in each direction servicing properties and side-streets. The road passes the

Royal Children's Hospital The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) is a major children's hospital in Melbourne, Australia. As a major specialist paediatric hospital in Victoria, the Royal Children's Hospital provides a full range of clinical services, tertiary care, as we ...

and then the Royal Melbourne and

Royal Women's Hospital The Royal Women's Hospital, located in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville, is Australia's oldest specialist women's hospital. It offers a full range of services in maternity, gynaecology, neonatal care, women's cancers and women's health. It als ...

s, before ending at the large Haymarket roundabout.

History

The road was signed National Route 79 in 1955, continuing south-east from

(and then from

Tullamarine Freeway The Tullamarine Freeway (commonly referred to as "The Tulla"), is a major urban freeway in Melbourne, linking Melbourne Airport to the Melbourne City Centre. It carries up to 210,000 vehicles per day and is one of Australia's busiest freeways. ...

from 1972); National Routes 1 and 8 joined from Racecourse Road, all three continuing south-east until the intersection with Harker Street, where National Routes 8 and 79 terminated and National Route 1 continued south down Harker Street. National Route 8 was upgraded to National Highway 8 when the Western Highway was declared a National Highway in 1974; National Route 1 was re-routed to use the

West Gate Freeway The West Gate Freeway is a major freeway in Melbourne, the busiest urban freeway and the busiest road in Australia, carrying upwards of 200,000 vehicles per day. It links Geelong (via the Princes Freeway) and Melbourne's western suburbs to ...

when it opened in 1978 and its former allocation was replaced with Alternative National Route 1, itself later removed in 1988. National Highway 8 was removed when the

Deer Park bypass The Western Highway is the Victorian part of the principal route linking the Australian cities of Melbourne and Adelaide, with a length of approximately of single carriageway, then of dual carriageway known as the Western Freeway. It is a pa ...

opened in 2009, and National Route 79 was replaced by Metropolitan Route 60 in 2013. The passing of the ''Road Management Act 2004'' granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to

VicRoads VicRoads is a government joint venture in the state of Victoria, Australia. In the state, it is responsible for driver licensing and vehicle registration. It is owned and operated through a joint venture between the Victorian government and a ...

: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Flemington Road (Arterial #5044), beginning at Boundary Road at Parkville and ending at Peel Street in the

Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city l ...

Facilities

The road provides access to several notable medicine and medical research institutions, as well as other facilities, particularly in the southeastern portion. It is a major healthcare precinct, containing many of inner Melbourne's hospitals. Some of these facilities are listed below, from north-westernmost to south-easternmost: * Royal Park * Royal Children's Hospital *

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

Western Precinct :* Building 400 (Veterinary Preclinical Sciences) :* Bio21 Institute *

* Frances Perry Private Hospital *

Royal Melbourne Hospital The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), located in Parkville, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research. Th ...

Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) is a multi-site, multi-disciplinary specialist cancer hospital and research centre located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The VCCC comprises an alliance between The University of Melbourne, th ...

:* Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Transport

Flemington Road consists of four motor vehicle lanes, two in each direction, and two tram tracks, one in each direction. These tracks are within 'Zone 1' and are serviced by

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victorian Department of Transport. The current franchise is operated by Keolis Downer. ...

route numbers 57, 58, and 59. The extreme north-west of Flemington Road is adjacent to

Flemington Bridge railway station Flemington Bridge railway station is located on the Upfield line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the inner-northern Melbourne suburbs of Flemington and North Melbourne, and opened on 10 April 1885 as Flemington. It was renamed Flemington Br ...

, which is on the

Upfield railway line The Upfield railway line is a commuter rail service operating between Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district through Melbourne's northern suburbs including West Melbourne, North Melbourne, Parkville, Brunswick, Coburg, Co ...

Major intersections

Flemington Road is entirely contained within the City of Melbourne local government area.

References