Victoria Road, Sydney


Victoria Road is a major road in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, connecting Parramatta with Rozelle and is currently one of the longest roads in Sydney. The road passes over two major bridges: the Iron Cove Bridge over Iron Cove, and the Gladesville Bridge over the Parramatta River.

Route

Victoria Road commences at the intersection of O'Connell Street in Parramatta and heads east as a four-lane dual-carriageway road, passing over an interchange with James Ruse Drive in eastern Parramatta, under an interchange with Silverwater Road in Ermington, over another interchange with Devlin Street in Ryde, through Gladesville and Drummoyne, and terminating at a modified intersection with City West Link and Western Distributor at Rozelle. It is predominantly three lanes in each direction between Rozelle and Gladesville, and two or three lanes in each direction west of Gladesville. A large number of Busways and Transit Systems bus routes travel along Victoria Road, and during peak hours much of the road includes a dedicated bus lane.
In 2011 the road was named as one of the most congested road in Sydney with an average travel speed of during the morning peak period and in the afternoon peak.

History

The passing of the Main Roads Act of 1924 through the Parliament of New South Wales provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the Main Roads Board. Main Road No. 165 was declared along this road on 8 August 1928, from Rozelle, Gladesville, along Kissing Point Road via Dundas, and along Pennant Street back along Victoria Road to Parramatta ; the alignment along Kissing Point Road via Dundas was altered to run via its current alignment through West Ryde on 2 December 1964.
In July 1955, a new four lane Iron Cove Bridge opened, followed in October 1964 by a new six lane Gladesville Bridge, both replacing 1880s built two-lane structures.
In 2011, the Inner West Busway project introduced a tidal flow arrangement between Drummoyne and Rozelle which provides four city bound lanes and two west bound lanes in the morning peak, before reverting to three lanes in each direction at 10am. A barrier transfer machine is used to move the concrete barrier. This also saw a new three-lane Iron Cove Bridge built for out-bound traffic with the existing structure being solely used by inbound traffic.
The passing of the Roads Act of 1993 updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, Victoria Road retains its declaration as part of Main Road 165.
The route was allocated State Route 40 in 1974 between Church Street in Parramatta and Rozelle. State Route 21 was also declared along Victoria Road between Huntleys Point and Drummoyne as a concurrency in 1974; it was removed in 2004. The western end of State Route 40 was truncated to James Ruse Drive in North Parramatta in 2007. With the conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in 2013, State Route 40 was replaced by route A40.