Hoddle Highway is an urban highway in Melbourne linking CityLink and the Eastern Freeway, itself a sub-section of Hoddle Main Road. Both these names are not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the names of its constituent parts: Hoddle Street, Punt Road and Barkly Street. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion, as well to avoid confusion between declarations. The highway is named after the surveyor Robert Hoddle, who planned central Melbourne's Hoddle Grid. Route Hoddle Street starts at the intersection with Queens Parade and High Street in Fitzroy North and heads south, crossing the Eastern Freeway one kilometre later: it is from here the Hoddle Highway officially starts. It continues south until the intersection with Wellington Parade and Bridge Road, becoming Punt Road. It continues south, passing near the Melbourne Cricket Ground, under Citylink in Richmond, across the Yarra River via the Hoddle Bridge through the South Yarra district to where St Kilda Road and Dandenong Road meet at St Kilda Junction; here the highway declaration ends, but the road continues south on the other side of St Kilda Junction as Barkly Street through the St Kilda city centre, to eventually terminate at Marine Parade in Elwood. The highway is frequently clogged with traffic, particularly during peak hour and during sport events, as it passes through Melbourne's inner suburbs and the city's main sporting and events precinct as a four-lane undivided road. History The elimination of the railway crossing at the Clifton Hill railway gates, where Heidelberg-Eltham Road (known today as Heidelberg Road) crossed the Hurstbridge and Whittlesea railway lines and then Hoddle Street, was approved by the Victorian government on 19 May 1955, instructing the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads) to proceed with the construction of a road overpass. The Board contracted the project to Lewis Construction Co. Pty. Ltd., estimated to cost A£240,000. Work commenced in February 1956, with the southern portion open to traffic in April 1957, and the remaining sections, including the ramps leading to and from Hoddle Street, opening several weeks later in May 1957. The Country Roads Board declared Hoddle Main Road a Main Road in the 1959–60 financial year, from Queens Parade in Fitzroy North, along Hoddle Street through Richmond, along Punt Road through South Yarra, and along Barkly Street to Elwood. Hoddle Main Road