The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924[4] through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads Board (later VicRoads). Wimmera Highway was declared a State Highway in the 1959/60 financial year,[5] from St Arnaud via Rupanyup, Horsham and Edenhope to the South Australian border (for a total of 146 miles); before this declaration, these roads were referred to as Hamilton–Edenhope–Aspley Road, Edenhope–Horsham Road, Horsham–Murtoa Road, Rupanyup–Murtoa Road, Marnoo–St Arnaud Road and Navarre Road.[5] The highway was extended a further 90km east (along the former Bendigo–St Arnaud Road[6]) to Marong, just outside Bendigo, in the late 1990s.
A new bridge over Loddon River in Newbridge (on the then-Bendigo-St Arnaud Road) was opened in 1996, replacing an older, flood-prone structure that could no longer be maintained in a cost-effective manner, at a cost of $1.4 million.[6]
Wimmera Highway was signed as State Route 130 between Naracoorte and St Arnaud in 1986; with Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, this was replaced by route C240 between Naracoorte and Marong. Subsequent road upgrades allowed the Victorian section to be reallocated route B240 in 2003.
The passing of the Road Management Act 2004[7] granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Wimmera Highway (Arterial #6110), beginning at the South Australian border and ending at Calder Alternative Highway in Marong.[8]
^State Government of Victoria. "Road Management Act 2004"(PDF). Government of Victoria. Archived(PDF) from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
Calder Alternative Highway
Riddoch Highway
