Victoria granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: VicRoads re-declared the road in 2013 as Hume Freeway (Freeway #1550), beginning at the state border with New South Wales to the intersection with Western and Metropolitan Ring Roads at Thomastown. The route was allocated National Route 31 across its entire length in 1954. The Whitlam Government introduced the federal National Roads Act 1974, where roads declared as a National Highway were still the responsibility of the states for road construction and maintenance, but were fully compensated by the Federal government for money spent on approved projects. As an important interstate link between the capitals of New South Wales and Victoria, Hume Highway was declared a National Highway in 1974, and was consequently re-allocated National Highway 31. At the Sydney end, as the South-Western Freeway was extended during the 1990s, National Highway 31 was replaced with Metroad 5 from Prestons to Liverpool in the early 1990s, then by Metroad 7 through Liverpool, and State Route 31 from Liverpool to its terminus at Ashfield. At the Melbourne end, route M31 was diverted onto the Craigieburn bypass in 2005; the former alignment (now known as Sydney Road) was replaced with State Route 55. With both states' conversion to the newer alphanumeric system between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, its route number was updated to route M31 for the highway within Victoria in 1997, and eventually within New South Wales in 2013 (with the route between Berrima and Prestons also renamed Hume Motorway), with route A28 between Prestons and Liverpool, and route A22 from Liverpool to its terminus at Ashfield. Upgrades New South Wales Between February 2009 and March 2012, both carriageways were widened between Brooks Road and Narellan Road. This work was undertaken in 3 stages. The first stage, widening to 4 lanes each way between Brooks Road and St Andrews Road St Andrews was completed in 2010. The second stage, widening to 4 lanes each way between St Andrews Road and Raby Road commenced in 2009 and was completed in mid-2011. The final stage, widening to 3 lanes each way between Raby Road and Narellan Road, commenced in September 2010 and was completed in March 2012. Construction of a pedestrian bridge over the highway to link Claymore and Woodbine was also completed. This section of the highway, opened as part of the two