M1 Princes Hwy/Fwy East

Former Alignments: Moe to Morwell

Highway 1 - Victoria | M1 Princes Hwy/Fwy East

Upon proclamation as a State Highway in 1925, the Princes Highway passed through Moe township along what is now Lloyd St and Narracan Dr (C103). From the end of Narracan Drive, the highway descended into the La Trobe Valley through the Haunted Hills, along what is now Haunted Hills Road. From Hernes Oak, the highway passed almost due west through what is now the Yallourn Open Cut Mine to join today’s Morwell Bridge Road at the Morwell River. From there, the Princes Highway used Morwell Bridge Rd and what is now Princes Drive (C104) to pass through Morwell.

The first improvements to the route came in the late 1950s when the expansion of the Yallourn open cut necessitated the relocation of the highway. The CRB took this opportunity to provide a high standard access-controlled alignment as well as a bypass of Moe. The first section of the new highway opened in 1959/60 as a single carriageway super-2 expressway between Hernes Oak and the Morwell River. Following in December 1964 was a westerly extension of the super-2 highway from Hernes Oak to Gunns Gully (Newborough) and the Moe Bypass completed the new route - opening in early 1967. The section between Gunns Gully and Hernes Oak inherited the “Haunted Hills” nickname that applied to the original highway between Newborough and Hernes Oak. Duplication of the Moe-Morwell section was commenced after the opening of the Moe Bypass and completed west to Gunns Gully in 1971 and to the western side of Moe in 1979.

Written By Sam Laybutt.