Melba Highway

Melba Highway commences at the intersection of High Street (Goulburn Valley Highway) and Station Street in Yea and heads south as a dual-lane, single-carriageway road, passing through forest and open agricultural land and mostly following the course of Yea River until it reaches Glenburn, where the highway descends down a steep grade to Dixons Creek at the bottom of the Great Dividing Range, through a road junction that links the highway with the nearby towns of Kinglake and Toolangi, a former home of Australian author C. J. Dennis. It continues south and then west along the bypass around Yarra Glen, then continues south, passing through the alluvial plains of the Yarra River and the rich Yarra Valley vineyards, before eventually passing the Melba Estate just before terminating at the intersection with Maroondah Highway in Coldstream.

The passing of the Country Roads Act 1912^[6] through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the establishment of the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads) and their ability to declare Main Roads, taking responsibility for the management, construction and care of the state's major roads from local municipalities. Yarra Glen Road was declared a Main Road, from the intersection with Main Healesville Road in Coldstream to Yarra Glen, on 20 October 1913,^[2] and Yea-Glenburn Road from Yea to Glenburn was declared a Main Road on 30 September 1914.^[7] The remainder of the road was the responsibility of the Shires of Yea and Healesville. The Shire of Yea in particular found maintenance of this and other roads within its boundaries challenging and financially straining, as a consquence of the hilly terrain, many bridges, and damage caused by periodic flooding. By the 1970s, the road carried a "constant heavy stream of 'through traffic'" which further exacerbated the Shire's maintenance difficulties without contributing any revenue.^[8]

The passing of the Country Roads Act 1958^[9] (itself an evolution from the original Highways and Vehicles Act 1924^[10]) provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the state government through the Country Roads Board. However, it was not until 9 May 1983 that the entire route from Yea to Coldstream via Yarra Glen was declared a State Highway, to be known as the Melba Highway, subsuming the original declarations of Yarra Glen Road and Yea-Glenburn Road as Main Roads. Before this declaration, the road were also referred to as Yarra Glen-Yea Road.^[3][11]

Melba Highway was signed as State Route 153 between Yea and Coldstream in 1986;^[12] with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s this was replaced with route B300.

The passing of the Road Management Act 2004^[13] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared Melba Highway (Arterial #6300) between Yea and Coldstream.^[5]

The Yarra Glen bypass which opened in May 2010 diverts trucks and other through vehicles. Works also saw the Bell Street/Melba Highway roundabout created along with a new level crossing through the roundabout for the Yarra Valley Railway.^[14]

• Highways in Australia
• Highways in Victoria