Moorooduc Highway
The Moorooduc Highway (also McMahons Road / Frankston-Flinders Road) is a 19 km highway which runs from Frankston to Mount Martha. It is a dual carriageway with two or three lanes each way and, together with the Mornington Peninsula Freeway, was the main arterial road from Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula until the recent completion of Peninsula Link.
Moorooduc Highway | |
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General information | |
Type | Highway |
Length | 19 km (12 mi) |
Route number(s) | ![]() ![]() |
Former route number | ![]() ![]() |
Major junctions | |
North end | ![]() |
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South end | ![]() |
Location(s) | |
Major settlements | Frankston South, Baxter, Moorooduc |
Highway system | |
History
It originally started at the intersection with Frankston-Flinders Road in Frankston South and joined the Nepean Highway in Moorooduc South. In the 1970s it was duplicated to just south of Sages Road and during the 1980s the rest of the road was duplicated, this was to serve as an alternative to building the Frankston Bypass. During the 1990s the Mornington Peninsula Freeway was linked to the (renamed) Moorooduc Highway.
Route
The Moorooduc Highway acts as a non-freeway link between the northern and southern sections of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway and begins at the southern end of the Frankston Freeway (which links to the northern section of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway). It passes along the east side of the Frankston commercial centre, and is a three lane dual carriageway with grade intersections and traffic lights to Frankston Flinders Road. There, the road narrows and loses a lane each way. The road passes the town of Mornington which is just off the highway. The highway ends at the northern end of the second section of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway. It is a notoriously dangerous stretch of road that has claimed many lives due to speed and uncontrolled intersections. Roundabouts have recently been installed at the Bentons Road, Eramosa Road and Bungower Road intersections. The Sages Road intersection is now controlled by traffic lights after numerous fatal and serious accidents at this high speed T-Intersection. Heading southbound the highway speed limit reaches 100 km/h from Sumner Road in Baxter.
Moorooduc Highway retains the original 'Metropolitan Route 11' designation, along with most of the Frankston Freeway until the upgraded area near EastLink where it becomes the M3. Both sections (northern and southern) of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway now carry the M11, to interconnect and correspond with Peninsula Link.
Frankston Bypass
Peninsula Link has now opened to traffic, Moorooduc Highway will now be focused on local traffic while Peninsula Link will primarily carry through traffic. This will allow through traffic to bypass the arguably congested roundabout intersections near Mornington as well as the intersections of Frankston, drastically improving traffic flow in these areas. See Peninsula Link for details.
See also
References