How
far is Lorne from Melbourne? Well, way back, it used to be 86 miles.
However, with decimalisation, it became 140 km. This has been my
reference point for a number of years.
However, the Westgate Fwy
was built some years ago and more recently, the Geelong by-pass has
been opened, and these may have affected things. It seems as if VicRoads has been updating matters,
because just down the road from the 140 km marker, there are two
markers that appear to designate a distance of 139 km. One states
“139H” and a couple of hundred metres away, the other states
“139D”. I haven't worked out the significance of these markers and a search on the VicRoads website didn't turn up anything (but perhaps I missed it).
Interesting, the more prominent markers found every 5 km on some
highways seem to be few and far between on the Great Ocean Road (edit - where they exist, the 5 km posts mark the distance between major towns, so their location bears no relation to the distances to Melbourne).
I don't know about H and D measures either, but the ultimate authority, Google Maps, says that the driving distance from Lorne Police Station to Melbourne GPO is 142km (1 hour 53 mins). Of course 86m converts into a bit less than 138km, but we know that by-passes often make the road longer while freeways varied things to the old distance.
ReplyDeleteI think Google Maps are "on the money"! The 86 mile post probably pre-dates even the Maltby by-pass (around Werribee on the Geelong road) which possibly added a little to the distance. The various kilometre posts that I've mentioned are a little way before the centre of town.
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