More stages still to come:
]]>Princes Freeway to the Western Highway (7.9 km)
Status: Funded remaining section (Expressions of interest open)
Timing: Early 2018–late 2020Sydney Road to Edgars Road (4 km)
Status: Funded remaining section
Timing: Early 2019–late 2021Plenty Road to Greensborough Highway (2.4 km)
Status: Funded remaining section
Timing: Early 2019–early 2021
I’m replying to this at the time that the government has almost completed the widening project between the Calder fwy to Sunshine Ave over the ej whitten bridge. Unfortunately the m80 (ring Rd) has no exit ramp for the Calder outbound and from the Calder inbound to the m80 Altona bound probably due to space constraints around the Calder m80 interchange. The Keilor dve entry ramp to the m80 Altona bound will still have a dedicated entry ramp Lane which will be the 5th lane and will run over the ej whitten bridge and exit and Sunshine Ave. The same will happen from Sunshine Ave to Keilor park dve outbound on the m80 as the 5th lane. The proximity of these 2 interchanges and the fact that it runs over a long bridge on the m80 were most likely factors into keeping a dedicated lane in each direction. Can’t wait till it’s done although I have heard that they will be widening the m80 either between the hume fwy and Sydney Rd or between tilburn Rd overpass and the Westgate fwy. Victorias big build is a big pain in the arse.
]]>Yes its most likely a safety issue/salami tactics however,
heading Altona bound, the M80 goes from 4 lanes just before the Calder interchange to 2 which is fair enough (for now) as Calder traffic should have a dedicated lane onto the M80. This creates 3 lanes heading to Kelior Park Drive (KPD).
Then these 3 lanes are reduced again to 2, onwards to the EJ Whitten bridge.
Essentially the M80 goes from 4 lanes to 1 (assuming 1 of the two lanes reaches ‘capacity’ caused by entering traffic from the Calder – which is probably not the case, so this is an extreme example).
Yes it is Micky Mouse stuff (i.e. relatively cheap compared to a full upgrade), but if the 3 lanes prior KPD could be allowed to continue unabated onto EJW bridge (by occupying the emergency lanes and ramp metering KPD) it would limit (significantly???) the bottleneck by maintaining the 2 lanes of M80 traffic and 1 lane of Calder.
I found this video to remind me as I’m not a frequent commuter of this road. Nonetheless, the above is always a tad frustrating when I do use it
https://youtu.be/JeafJmIMWOI?t=5m28s
If anybody decides to play the video I recommend it at 0.25 speed – to represent the reality on this stretch of road.
My guess is that the close spacing of interchanges between Sunshine Avenue and the Calder Freeway was a contributing factor to the original design – by adding an extra lane, dodging and weaving in the inner lane could be reduced.
]]>Also known as “salami tactics” – the South Eastern Arterial is another example, as was the construction of CityLink to connect the inner city freeways.
http://www.danielbowen.com/2010/11/04/freeways-salami-tactics/
]]>Why not put ramp meters on the entry points (nth and sth) so that the 3 lanes of the RR can continue unaffected?
You could easily remove the emergency lanes (repaint) under Kelior Park Drive. This would provide an additional lane for 2.5kms in each direction – between Calder and EJ Whitten Bridge.
Anecdotally I know quite a few people from my part of the world who use Dandenong Road-Westgate Fwy-M80 Ring Road to avoid Citylink tolls to the airport!
]]>The section from the Tullamarine Freeway to Hume Highway opened 1992-93 was funded by the Feds first (back in the Keating government with two narrow lanes each way to reduce costs – the Federal Funding came as it was part of the National Highway) with other sections opening later.
It should be said that it was probably the catalyst for a lot of development in the outer west – Going to Ballarat via the Westgate Freeway involved backtracking via Dohertys Road – Fitzgerald Road – Boundary Road – Robinsons Road to the Western Highway. Nothing but dry stone walls pre- Ring Road when suddenly industrial estates sprung up. Housing estates followed but are generally more constrained to be nearer the suburban rail corridors (hence little development along the Melton line and general lack of historical spread west of Melbourne). Given that Diggers Rest will probably be a target of rezoning and subdivision in the not too distant future.
I’m not the world’s most devout follower of the late Paul Mees (a solicitor of all things turned ‘transport expert’) – sometimes he was right on the money, but not always. I doubt they will call for more lanes any time soon (given particularly structures like the Jacana tunnel are maxed out anyway) – there will probably be an eventual push for the Outer Metropolitan Ring Road but given it is in the middle of paddocks currently that will be years away! In the meanwhile I’d think the North East Link would be the focus of lobbying as would East West depending on how long the current State Government lasts.
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