Surfcoast Highway (and its northern section within Geelong as Torquay Road, and its southern section as Surf Coast Highway)[2] is a semi-rural highway in Victoria, Australia, connecting the city of Geelong with the coastal town of Torquay. The highway runs through the Armstrong Creek Growth Area, which is the subject of extensive residential development; closer to Torquay, tourist attractions the Narana Creations indigenous centre, Surf Coast Plaza retail centre, and the Surfworld museum are located along the highway.[3][4]
Route
Torquay Road starts at the intersection with Settlement Road in Belmont and runs south as a four-lane, dual-carriageway road through the southern Geelong suburb of Grovedale and crossing the Warrnambool railway line, continuing south until it reaches the intersection of Lower Duneed Road in Mount Duneed. It changes name to Surf Coast Highway and continues south, eventually running through central Torquay, before ending at the bridge over Spring Creek, where the road continues west as the Great Ocean Road.
History
Construction to duplicate the Surfcoast Highway, 13.2km total between Grovedale and Torquay, commenced in November 1990, to aid higher traffic levels due to tourism and holidays and the growth of Torquay and neighbouring Jan Juc. Work was completed and opened in June 1993, for a total cost of $13.3 million.[5] A link between Surfcoast Highway and the Geelong Ring Road, named Baanip Boulevard, was completed in June 2015.[6]
Surfcoast Highway was signed as State Route 100 between Grovedale and Torquay in 1986; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was updated to route B100 in 1996.[7]
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004[8] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Surfcoast Highway (Arterial #6190), beginning at Corio-Waurn Ponds Road (today Settlement Road) at Belmont and ending at Great Ocean Road in Torquay;[2] this declaration formally includes today's Torquay Road, but signposts along this section have kept its original name.
^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.
