Taking a tour

From the air there is a tangle of freeway lanes, ramps and frontage roads.

The interchange having a total of sixteen bridges.

Including:

• two taking the Calder Freeway over the M80 Ring Road,
• five taking the Calder Freeway over freeway ramps,
• two taking freeway ramps over the M80 Ring Road,
• five bridges over railway tracks,
• one taking Fullarton Road over the interchange,
• and finally, a pedestrian footbridge at Collinson Street.

And increasing the complexity of the interchange are two other features – the Fullarton Road ‘frontage road’ skirts the northern edge, and Calder Freeway westbound exit for Keilor Park Drive is via a collector/distributor lane arrangement with the M80 Ring Road ramps.

But the despite the number of bridges, only four out of the possible eight freeway-to-freeway movements are possible:

• M80 Ring Road southbound > Calder Freeway westbound,
• Calder Freeway westbound > M80 Ring Road southbound,
• M80 Ring Road northbound > Calder Freeway eastbound, and
• Calder Freeway eastbound > M80 Ring Road northbound.

The other four movements being catered for by other routes:

• M80 Ring Road southbound > Calder Freeway eastbound via Tullamarine Freeway from the M80 Ring Road interchange,
• Calder Freeway westbound > M80 Ring Road northbound via Tullamarine Freeway from the Calder Freeway interchange,
• M80 Ring Road northbound > Calder Freeway westbound via Keilor Park Drive, and
• Calder Freeway eastbound > M80 Ring Road southbound via Keilor Park Drive.

And local traffic – for the Calder Freeway they have to use the Woorite Place, Fullarton Road or McNamara Avenue exits; for the M80 Ring Road they need to use Keilor Park Drive or Airport Drive.

So how did this mess of roads come to be?

A history of the Calder Freeway, Keilor Park Drive, and the M80 Western Ring Road

We start back in 1971, when Keilor Park was a recently developed suburb, there was no such thing as Keilor Park Drive, and the Calder Highway was just a normal road. The only sign of what was to come – two faint purple lines marking future freeways.

Melway edition 5, 1971

By 1975 the first stage of the Calder Freeway had been completed from Niddrie, terminating at Keilor East – and the first sign of Keilor Park Drive.

Melway edition 8, 1975

By 1976 the Calder Highway had been deviated towards the Keilor Cemetery, ready for a freeway extension.

Melway edition 9, 1976

Keilor Park Drive was completed by 1978, and the planned ring road alignment had been extended south of the Calder Freeway.

Melway edition 11, 1978

By 1979 work on the Calder Freeway extension west to Keilor was underway.

Melway edition 12, 1979

Completed by 1982.

Melway edition 14, 1982

There things stayed still, until 1989 saw the planned alignment for the Western Ring Road tweaked.

Melway edition 19, 1989

The debate over the interchange

Early planning for the Western Ring Road was undecided about the provision of an interchange with the Calder Freeway, due to the impacts on the surrounding area.

The planning scheme reservation across the Calder Freeway is about 30 metres wide and is inadequate to accommodate the WRR. No allowance was made in previous planning for the additional land that would be required for an interchange between the WRR and the Calder Freeway . As a result, development has been allowed to proceed right up to the reservation boundary. South of the Calder Freeway is the East Keilor industrial area, consisting of small industrial premises, while to the north is the residential area of Keilor Park.

Four interchange options were subject to detailed investigation.

• a ‘no-interchange’ option requlrlng turning traffic between the Calder and the WRR to use nearby local access interchanges and local roads . This would include grade separation of the two routes and acquisition of 15 business premises at a cost of $14m. It would cause significant increases in through traffic on local roads;
• build an interchange, with a range of alternatives examined including a diamond interchange (with signals on the WRR), a bridged rotary and a number of freeway to freeway variations. The cost would range from $27m for a diamond to $52 for freeway to freeway. Up to 75 business premises and 30 houses would be required.

The recommended solution was a two-level interchange with turning roadways in two quadrants, with a September 1989 information bulletin stating.

There has been a lot of community discussion about whether or not an interchange should be built to connect the WRR with the Calder Freeway.

If an interchange were not built, there would be big increases in traffic on local arterial roads, such as Milleara Road and Keilor Park Drive. An interchange is therefore favoured despite its estimated cost of up to $50m and the effect on a number of houses and businesses.

Following recent discussions with local residents, further ideas have been examined. These would not separate through traffic from local traffic, and would still impact on a similar number of properties.

It is therefore proposed to reserve enough land for an interchange at the location originally shown (immediately west of the SEC power lines).

This would require a section of Fullarton Road to be moved. Space would be provided for landscaping and noise barriers to protect houses in Keilor Park.

These changes being included in the Western Road Road Environmental Effects Statement advertised in December 1989.

Featuring a long list of land use changes in Keilor Park and East Keilor.

Including:

14)

The Proposed Secondary Road link to Cecelia Drive is to be deleted. It previously provided a local connection between Buckley Street and the Calder Freeway which is now to be via the Dodds Road interchange and the new connection through former Commonwealth land to Milleara Road (see item 16 below). The reservation is to be rezoned to appropriate abutting zoning (Residential C and Proposed Public Open Space reservation).

15)

An area of land to the north of the previous Cecelia Drive route, which is zoned for Reserved Light Industrial, will be impossible to develop for industrial purposes because of access difficulties. It is proposed to be rezoned to Proposed Public Open Space as an extension of the Maribymong Valley Park. The area will be capable of providing for pedestrian/cycle access into the park from the new Dodds Road connection. It is owned by the MMBW.

16)

A large area of land reserved for Commonwealth purposes in Milleara Road has been sold and is being subdivided for housing. The site is to be rezoned to Reserved Living, in accordance with the proposed use. Incorporated within the zone will be a Secondary Road reservation which provides for the connection between Dodds Road interchange and Milleara Road, on the alignment included within the approved plan of subdivision.

17)

As part of the necessary connections between the existing road network and the Ring Road, the Roads Corporation are intending to construct a connection between the Dodds Road interchange and Keilor Park Drive. This route will utilise the existing reservation and Cemetery road to the southern boundary of the cemetery, then deviate westwards to join Keilor Park Drive. A portion of Brimbank Park, reserved for Proposed Public Open Space, is to be amended to Proposed Secondary Road and an excised remnant amended to Proposed Cemetery to allow for future expansion of the adjoining Keilor Cemetery. The deviation shall involve the least acquisition necessary to achieve a satisfactory road alignment.

18)

Land north-east of the proposed Dodds road interchange has recently been subdivided for industrial purposes. The zoning is to be rationalised to provide a Reserved Light Industrial Zone along the railway opposite future housing (Item 16). A proposed reservation for re-instating access to the Slater Parade Industrial Area is also provided (Proposed Public Purposes 20).

19)

The area between the new Dodds Road/Keilor Park Drive link and the Ring Road is currently zoned for a variety of industrial and other uses. It is intended to rationalise the zoning for this area.
The existing Reserved Light Industrial and Reserved General Industrial Zones will be amended to a Restricted Light Industrial zone which will allow greater control over buildings and works.

20)

Land severed from Brimbank Park by Cemetery Road deviation and public open space reservation due east of the Keilor Cemetery is proposed to be included in a Proposed Cemetery Reservation. This will provide for a much needed extension of the cemetery. Open space lost in the extension will be replaced in the area south of Dodds Road interchange (see Item 15).

21)

Access is to be restored to the properties west of the Ring Road in the Prendergast Avenue area. The new road (shown as Proposed Public Purposes 20) will provide subdivisional opportunities which can be taken up by the owner by agreement with the Council and the Roads Corporation.

22)

The Roads Corporation proposes to construct a freeway-to-freeway interchange between the Ring Road and the Calder Freeway. The construction may take place in stages, to match traffic growth and may initially include some at grade intersections with traffic signals. These would later be replaced by free flow ramps. The Proposed Main Road reservation included in this amendment provides for the total land requirements for the final interchange. This also provides for a deviation of Fullarton Road around the interchange to maintain access between Keilor Park and Airport West.

23)

The present planning scheme shows the Calder Freeway between Woorite Place and the Maribyrnong River as a mixture of Main Road, Proposed Main Road and Road Widening reservations. The boundaries of these reservations have been changed to match the layout of the freeway.

Time to build

Plans for the Western Ring Road had been made real by 1991, when a whole slew of new proposed roads added to the Melway – including the Western Ring Road, an interchange with the Calder Freeway, and a southward extension of Keilor Park Drive to Milleara Road.

Melway edition 21, 1991

Work started on the 2.6 km long extension of Keilor Park Drive to Milleara Road in 1993, opening to traffic on 11 April 1994 at a cost of $20 million. A further $5 million was spent on the duplication of Keilor Park Drive and Sharps Road, in preparation for the traffic that the next stage of the Western Ring Road would bring – but the Calder Freeway interchange was still ‘proposed’.

Melway edition 23, 1995

But the interchange was approved soon after – detailed design work commenced in 1992 with construction planned to start in 1996, with completed by 1998. However additional funding from the Federal Government saw the project sped up – construction commenced in May 1994 under two contracts, with a 90 week deadline:

• Stage 1: $30 million contract with Fletcher Construction Australia and Sinclair Knight Merz for the construction of four road bridges, three bridges over rail lines and the extension the existing pedestrian footbridge.
• Stage 2: $14.6 million contract with Transfield Constructions and Roche Bros to widen the Calder Freeway from Keilor Park Drive to McNamara Avenue, build six road bridges, and widen two bridges over the railway.

1996 saw the interchange marked as ‘under construction’ in the Melway, and the western ramps at the Calder Freeway / Woorite Place interchange had been closed.

Melway edition 24, 1996

With the freeway network reaching the current state in 1998.

Melway edition 25, 1998

Today the only different is the number of lanes: the Western Ring Road north of the Calder Freeway interchange was widened to four lanes in 2013, the section to the south following in 2018.

And the streets wiped off the map

To make room for the freeway interchange a compulsory acquisition process was started in 1993, and by February 1995 twenty out of 30 houses in Keilor Park had been demolished, with 75 commercial and industrial properties due to follow.

By the time the area was cleared, Prendergast Avenue, Webber Parade, Tunnecliffe Avenue, Hogan Parade had all been wiped off the map, along with a portion of the ‘Milleara Estate’ by landscape architect Walter Burley Griffin, designer of Canberra.

Footnote: ghost ramp on the Calder Freeway

The interchange of the Calder Freeway and Woorite Place was once a full diamond, but the ramps to the west were removed to eliminate weaving movements with traffic from the Western Ring Road.

Google Maps

The remains on the eastbound off ramp are still visible today as a ‘ghost ramp‘.

Google Street View

Footnote: building bridges

The paper Design and Construct Bridge Structures on the Western Ring Road — Calder Freeway Interchange by Mark Percival and Duncan Kinder details the construction of the bridges at the interchange.

Each of a unique design.

Fullarton Road Bridge
Fullarton Road formerly ran parallel to the Calder Freeway between Matthews Avenue to the east and Keilor Park Drive to the west, providing vehicular access to private housing on the northern side of the freeway. Construction of a grade separation structure over the proposed Western Ring Road was required to maintain this access. The bridge carries two lanes of traffic (one in each direction) and has a 2m wide footpath located along the northern side of the bridge.

Ramp A Bridge
This bridge was provided to allow vehicles travelling north along the Western Ring Road to exit off the Ring Road and join the Calder Freeway, leading back into Melbourne. The bridge is constructed parallel to the Fullarton Road Bridge and spans over the Western Ring Road, Ramp C and Ramp D.

Ramp C Bridge
Ramp C provides access for traffic heading south along the Western Ring Road to exit north towards Bendigo along the Calder Freeway.

Ramp D Bridge
This bridge provides access for southbound traffic from the Calder Freeway to enter the westbound carriageway of the Western Ring Road. As well as being curved in plan, it has a high skew. (21° at the west abutment, 30° at the east abutment)

Fullarton Road over Rail Bridge, Ramp A Rail Bridge and Ramp B Rail Bridge
Ramp A and Ramp B Rail Bridges were provided to allow access on or off the Western Ring Road, and Fullarton Road over Rail Bridge was required to maintain access to the existing access road. All three bridges over the Albion to Broadmeadows Rail Line provide for two lanes of traffic. The Fullarton Road over Rail Bridge also included a pedestrian footpath. Each bridge comprises three simply supported spans varying in length from 11.4m to 15.2m.

Collinson Street Footbridge
The existing Collinson Street Footbridge over the Calder Freeway required extension to provide access over both Ramp C and E. The existing circular ramp at the southern end of the bridge was demolished and the bridge extended at the south end with 4 additional spans.

The curved road bridges were concrete box girders cast in place, with the roadway beneath excavated following completion of the bridge; while the bridges over the railway were conventional super ‘T’ beams lowered into place by cranes.

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Some history

I’ve written about the history of the Melbourne-Ballarat railway before. Ballarat’s first railway was completed in 1862 as double track, but was indirect and travelled via Geelong. Today’s direct route to Melbourne came much later, being built from both ends over a 10 year period as a single track branch line serving towns along the way, until 1889 when the two met in the middle to form a through route that now linked Melbourne to Adelaide.

PROV photo VPRS 12800/P0001 H 5012

But following the completion of the heavily engineered Geelong-Ballarat and Melbourne-Bendigo railway lines, the finances of the young colony were depleted, so the new railway to Ballarat was built on a more economic basis. An example of this was when the surveyors reached the steep Moorabool River valley, they didn’t build a bridge – they sent the railway north for for the flatter terrain of Bungaree and Wallace, then back south to avoid the foothills of Black Hill outside Gordon.

In the years that followed the number of trains using the railway between Melbourne and Ballarat grew, as did the size of each – but the dogleg via Bungaree remained.

PROV image VPRS 12800/P1, item H 2545

In the 1970s the Bureau of Transport Economics looked at a number of upgrades to the Melbourne – Serviceton railway, with straightening out the line one of the options considered.

Millbrook to Dunnstown Deviation

It is proposed to straighten out the line between Millbrook, and Dunnstown to reduce the distance between these two localities by about 5 km.

A 5 minute reduction in transit time is expected for both directions of travel if the deviation is introduced at a capital cost of $1.5 million.

But this option was not pursued – instead a lower cost package of signalling upgrades and longer crossing loops was completed.

Weston Langford photo

Enter Regional Fast Rail

In 2000 the newly elected Bracks Government announced Regional Fast Rail – a project to speed up trains between Melbourne and the regional centres of Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Traralgon.

For the Ballarat line a target travel time of 64 minutes was set, which meant that the existing steam-era alignment needed to be rebuilt to allow the new maximum top speed of 160 km/h to be reached.

At Bungaree the solution to speeding up trains was simple – they brushed off their old plans, and proposed a brand new 8.2 kilometre section of railway joined the two halves of the existing doglegged route, bypassing the numerous tight curves along the way.

Sounds simple, eh?

But where will the line line run?

Drawing a line on a map is one thing, but new railway deviation cut through 30+ parcels of private land.

Department of Sustainability and Environment map

And the government failed to engage the local community following the announcement of the project.

Hansard, Legislative Assembly
13 June 2001

Mr Leigh (Mordialloc) – I will quote a letter from the Department of Infrastructure. It is a very nice letter to a whole range of people who live along what is called the Bungaree diversion. It is part of a loop on the Ballarat line that the government has to get rid of .It is where the government should look if it wants to use of some of the $550 million and reduce time frames on the Ballarat line.

Firstly, the government introduced the program without telling a resident or anyone else. Following the announcement, when the people in the area looked at the local newspaper they saw a report that their land would be blighted by this scheme, and the government had not told the parties concerned. What did Premier Bracks then do? Nothing.

After some months I forced the government to call a public meeting of the residents, and the honourable member for St Kilda — or Ballarat East, as I think he refers to himself — said he was getting on with it.

A letter dated 5 June from the Department of Infrastructure, which I will make available to the house, if necessary, says, in part:

Millbrook to Dunnstown deviation – Regional Fast Rail project

On 31 May the government released the expression of interest documentation to the market as the start of the bidding process

Work on whether the deviation is required between Millbrook and Dunnstown is still continuing, however this may not be resolved until the end of the tendering process early next year.

The government regrets the uncertainty …

Farmers and others who live in the community have no knowledge of what is going on.

At the public meeting the people supporting the fast train proposal put forward a great idea about how farmers could resolve the problem of crossing the track with their sheep. They said the train line should be buffered to protect them.

The track will go right through the middle of one farmer’s property. The head of the infrastructure group said, `I do not understand what your problem is, because we are going to make a payment to you. With that payment you will be able to afford to hire a transport company to move your sheep from one side of the railway neck to the other when you need to. Every time you want to move your sheep you will have to ring Ballarat to get a transport company out. There will be enough money for you in an account so you can afford to pay for that forever’.

That is the sort of nonsense that is going on.

The first community meetings being held in 2002.

Minister Meets with Landowners On Regional Fast Rail
Media release from the Minister for Transport
22 July 2002

Transport Minister Peter Batchelor attended a meeting Thursday of last week in the Millbrook Community Centre to brief landholders who could have their properties acquired for the Millbrook to Dunnstown rail deviation as part of the Regional Fast Rail Project.

The deviation is essential to reduce the distance the new fast trains will travel in this location, and to allow the trains to reach a speed of 160km/h to achieve a 64 minute express trip between Ballarat and Melbourne.

The Fast Rail project is the biggest upgrade of the regional rail system in 120 years.

But with the 2002 Victorian state election approaching, the railway deviation became a political football.

Liberals not prepared to reveal fast train policy called
Ballarat Courier
21 October 2002

The Liberal Party will reveal its policy on the fast rail project’s controversial Bungaree loop after the next state election called.

That was the message it delivered to Millbrook and Dunnstown residents at a public meeting on the issue last night.

The Liberal Party’s Ballarat East candidate Gerard FitzGerald and Ballarat Province candidate Helen Bath met with up to 50 people at the former Millbrook Primary School to discuss the impact of the Bungaree loop bypass on landholders.

Mr FitzGerald said he supported the farmers’ stance at the meeting and had presented their concerns to the Liberal Party.

Millbrook and Dunnstown landowners have banded together to fight a plan to build a new train line through or near their properties to bypass the Bungaree loop.

The group believes the bypass is unnecessary and would not be worth the pain it would cause the area.

At Millbrook and Dunnstown 18 properties will, under present plans, be affected by a new track that will partially replace the Bungaree loop and cut four minutes off travel times.

Mr FitzGerald said he wanted to see the money proposed for the Bungaree loop to be spent on improving the gridlock between Sunshine and Spencer St instead.

“What I am telling my party in Melbourne is that the deviation is clearly a waste of money,” Mr FitzGerald said.

However, the two candidates stopped short of committing to scrapping the Bungaree Loop plans.

Ms Bath said it could not yet commit to scrapping the loop deviation project until an election was called, any time between November 30 this year and the end of next year.

“As soon as the election is called you will have a very clear distinction (between the Liberal Party and Labor),” Ms Bath said.

Ms Bath also said she would organise a meeting with the party’s leader Robert Doyle and transport spokesman Geoff Leigh.

But the deviation was given the go ahead in 2003.

Government to Proceed With Millbrook Rail Deviation
Media release from the Minister for Transport
6 February 2003

Works on the deviation of the Ballarat rail line between Millbrook and Dunnstown for the Regional Fast Rail project will go ahead, Transport Minister Peter Batchelor announced today.

Mr Batchelor said the deviation was one of several necessary to create a high-quality 64-minute trip between Ballarat and Melbourne, a travel time strongly supported by the Ballarat Council and community.

Mr Batchelor will meet with affected landowners tonight at the Millbrook Community Hall.

“There is no feasible or cost-effective alternative to the deviation,” Mr Batchelor said.

“The only way that the travel time can be achieved on the Ballarat line is by building the deviation and realigning the track in four other locations.

But the state opposition still kept up the pressure on the government’s handing of the project, and proposed an alternate solution – double tracking the Ballarat line closer to Melbourne.

Hansard, Legislative Assembly
27 August 2003

Mr Mulder (Polwarth) — On 8 August, without any discussion, the Minister for Planning gazetted compulsory acquisition of 44 pieces of land in the Millsbrook–Dunnstown area for the $30 million Bungaree deviation. As one of the 20 affected land-holders, Graeme Harris says that Labor has bulldozed its way along.

There has been no proper consideration of alternatives such as those suggested by the Liberal Party to spend the same amount on duplicating the rail line between Deer Park West and Rockbank and abandon the Bungaree deviation.

Not a single rail has been laid on the $573 million fast rail projects. Today we see in the Herald Sun that there are further cost blow-outs of an initial $8 million for just the Bendigo and Traralgon projects. This bill will be picked up by all Victorians.

When will the Premier, the Minister for Transport and the members for Ballarat East and Ballarat West start to listen? The Bungaree deviation is about the Premier’s image in his own home town of Ballarat. According to the Ballarat mayor, David Vendy, it is no wonder the Premier’s body language is embarrassed! Fast rail construction delays are set to cost Victorians over $100 million.

Duplicating the track closer to Melbourne would benefit Ballan, Bacchus Marsh and Melton residents. This is all about the selfish pride of the Premier versus a small country community. The Ballarat members would do better to look after the small country.

But the government stuck to their plans, with newsletters for the Regional Fast Rail project being used to justify their choice of upgrades.

Regional Fast Rail Bulletin
Issue 2
November 2003

Why can’t the Government just run some more trains and leave the rail line as it is?

Victoria’s regional rail network has not been upgraded in decades, and much of the infrastructure is reaching the end of its life. The track includes sections of poor quality rail and sleepers which can result in uncomfortable journeys and wear-and-tear on trains, and the outdated signals are responsible for many delays.

As with roads, rail lines need to be upgraded. The Government is spending $130 million on bringing the Ballarat line up to modern standards to provide high-quality rail services which are frequent, fast, comfortable, reliable and safe.

How can services travelling in opposite directions run without being delayed on the single track?

Many sections of the country and metropolitan rail network operate safely and efficiently as single-track lines with passing loops. Duplication of the Ballarat line from Melton is not required to provide for more frequent and reliable services, and is unaffordable within the project’s budget. The introduction of 38 new trains, the redevelopment of the timetable to better match community needs, and the major upgrade of the tracks and signalling system will improve service frequency and reliability for all communities along the line.

What will be done about the delays between Melton and Sunshine, and in the metropolitan area?

Many of the delays experienced between Melton and Sunshine are caused by signalling problems. By replacing the outdated signals with an automated, centrally-controlled signalling system, reliability will be greatly improved. The upgrade of the signals on the country network will also reduce delays caused by trains missing their timetable slot once they reach the metropolitan system.

Improving the capacity and operation of the metropolitan system is a priority for government. Planning studies have begun to examine rail service operation on the Sunshine corridor, which provides paths for Ballarat line services. These studies will identify bottlenecks, clarify the causes of delays and formulate options for upgrading infrastructure, signalling and operating systems.

Why is the land acquisition necessary?

The track realignments are necessary to achieve the target express travel time of 64 minutes between Ballarat and Spencer Street station. A travel time close to one hour is strongly supported by the City of Ballarat and the Ballarat community, and faster travel times are required if rail is to compete with road travel. The only other option for achieving the 64 minute travel time without bypassing the Bungaree Loop is to bypass Bacchus Marsh, which is not appropriate. Affected landowners will be fairly compensated in accordance with the provisions of the Land Acquisition and Compensation Act 1986.

Building it

Now that a route was chosen, it was time to build.

VicPlan map

In came the bulldozers, scrapers, dump trucks and graders – clearing the way for the new railway.

Weston Langford photo

Some impressive civil works were required to build the new line, which had no level crossings:

• 380,000m3 of cut and fill earthworks,
• Construction of four road over rail bridges:
  • Sullivans Road (16m span)
  • Spread Eagle Road (12.5m span)
  • Peerewerrh Road (12.5m span)
  • Old Melbourne Road (18.5m span)
• Two rail over water bridges:
  • Moorabool Bridge: 270m long, 27m high
  • Lal Lal Bridge: 363m long, 40m high

The two massive rail over water bridges being the main feature.

Thiess ALSTOM Joint Venture photo

Built to an innovative design not seen before .

The construction of the Moorabool River and Lal Lal Creek bridges on the Bungaree Deviation included many innovative design and construction solutions. The challenge for the design team was to develop an innovative design that would minimise the on-site works and therefore minimise risk for the construction phase of the project.

The design and construction methodology included the following objectives:
• Minimise work at heights
• Prefabricate and preassemble as much as possible including access systems
• Assemble as much on the ground as possible
• Use of physical handrails rather than fall arrest systems

A breakthrough in the design was the use of wind tower technology for the steel bridge columns, fabricated by Keppel Prince in Portland.

Lal Lal Creek piers:
– rolled from 32mm plate
– maximum length of 38m
– maximum weight of 82 tonnes
– base diameter up to 4.5m tapering down to standard 1.5m at the top

Moorabool River piers:
– rolled from 20 – 25mm plate
– maximum length of 25m
– maximum weight of 25 tonnes

All the piers were transported to site in one section including the platforms and access systems to enable piers to be erected straight off the truck.

During construction, the pre-cast concrete crossheads weighing 27 tonne were lifted onto each steel pier with the permanent access platforms installed on the crossheads on the ground prior to final erection.

Three super T pre-cast concrete beams (ranging from 62-76 tonne and 27-33 metres) were laid in parallel to span each gap between the columns.

Each beam was fitted out on the ground prior to lifting into final position. The fit out included the installation of ballast walls incorporating permanent hand rails, drainage system and temporary handrails around lifting points. Additional lifting clutches were incorporated to take into account the change in centre of gravity due to the beam fit out.

The use of very large steel columns, precast beams, and crossheads required detailed planning for each lift. Mobile cranes were used for all the lifts and special attention was placed on prepared detailed engineering solutions for all lifts including access roads and the provision of piled support systems and embankment strengthening works for the crane positions.

The two bridges were functionally complete by late 2004.

Weston Langford photo

And following the completion of works elsewhere along the line, Premier Steve Bracks and Transport Minister Peter Batchelor launched VLocity trains along the upgraded line on 22 December 2005.

Matt Julian photo

But a false economy

Despite building a shorter route, it was decided to retain the old route as a crossing loop, so that trains in opposite directions could pass each other without stopping.

The new deviation joining the existing route at Millsbrook in the east.

And Dunnstown in the west.

Cost cutting on the project was attacked at the time.

Submission to the Select Committee, Train Services, Parliament of Victoria
Rail Tram and Bus Union
18 September 2006

Much has been made of the improvements to the Ballarat line which features the hugely expensive deviation from Millbrook to Torpys Road ($45,000,000) This was done to facilitate a time saving of 5 minutes in the running time of the fast train service.

All the track improvements were carried out with one objective, that is to allow one service to negotiate the distance from Ballarat to Sunshine in 45 mins. This would explain why two sections of track from Bacchus Marsh to the Horseshoe Bend and from the Horseshoe Bend to Ingliston were not even touched and left with the original wooden sleepers and worn out rail. There was no speed gain on this section of track because it was too costly to upgrade. The total length of these two sections is around 15 – 20 kms. A further 2 km section of track exists on the approach to Ballarat where the concrete sleepered new track finishes at Stawell Street and passengers are treated the last bit of their journey on this rough old section. The reason for this? No speed gain on this piece of line so leave it.

All crossing loops were left in situ ( except for Bungaree) and were extended for run off purposes at Bank Box, Parwan, and Rockbank, using mostly second hand plant, ie: rails and sleepers.

The track around through Bungaree (the original line) has been made into a ridiculously long crossing loop (over 7 kms) purely to save the cost of constructing a new loop on the deviation track.

Because the Ballarat line is single track throughout any late running will compound right down the line causing delays to all trains because of the poor siting of the crossing loops.

The incompetent arrangements at Bacchus Marsh are a prime example. Rather than reworking the station (which has significant commuter traffic) to an island platform, the station still has only a single platform face which seriously inhibits crossing trains. In fact it is the only station on the line with a single platform face and over 70% of the patronage on this line occurs out to Bacchus Marsh.

And the cost cutting came back to bite them in the years that followed – in 2008–09 had to come back and install more than 50,000 concrete sleepers in the section of track they skipped a few years earlier.

And in the 2012/13 financial year VicTrack had to fund upgrades at four level crossings along the ‘old’ Bungaree Loop.

A mess finally cleaned up as part of the recently completed $518 million Ballarat line upgrade project – the ‘long way around’ via Bungaree was closed.

Replaced by a brand new crossing loop at Milbrook, so that opposing trains could still pass each other.

The project also duplicated the Ballarat line as far as Melton.

And provided second platforms at Bacchus Marsh and Ballan.

Upgrades suggested two decades earlier in place of the deviation via Bungaree.

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Starting in the land boom of the 1880s, and continuing until the introduction of formal planning controls in the 1950s, speculative subdivision of land into small blocks, many less than 0.1 hectares (1/4 acre) was rampant across Victoria.

These estates lay empty until the 1970s, when improved road access and the outward expansion of Melbourne saw pressure to develop these empty blocks, which saw the State Government fund the restructuring of inappropriately subdivided areas, a process that continues today through a “Restructure Overlays” applied to the affected land.

Failed speculative estates turned industrial

The first zombie subdivisions I found was Solomon Heights in Sunshine North – subdivided for residential purposes but related rezoned as industrial.

A similar example is the ‘Burns Road Estate‘ in Altona – subdivided in the 1920s, but never developed.

Closer to home for me are two Geelong examples – ‘New Station Estate‘ on Broderick Road – since restructured as larger industrial allotments.

And ‘New Corio Estate‘ on Shell Parade – purchased by council to become a grassland reserve.

Land boom hits Whittlesea

Eden Park west of Whittlesea was develpped during the 1880s land boom.

The subdivision of Eden Park sits six kilometres to the west of Whittlesea and 40 kilometres to the north of Melbourne. It is located between the lines of a geometric grid that in 1888 was prepared by the Burwood Land Building and Investment. Co. Ltd. The development featured 1324 lots, ranging from one to four acres in size.

But was unsuitable for such intensive development.

By 1901 upwards of 100 persons of small means had acquired lots at Eden Park, some no doubt tempted by the subdivider’s persuasive description of the advantages of a rural retreat.

In time many owners sold or surrendered their holdings by adverse possession until about 30 families owned small farms, intersected by the estate’s avenues. In the late 1960s the estate was again actively promoted, and in 1980 there were 450 individual owners and 175 detached houses.

Resulting in the restructure of the estate as a rural living area.

Created by bureaucratic bungling

Cemetery Estate in Hastings – approved for housing in 1960 with 230-plus lots sold. The Long Island Point gas fractionation facility was then built next door, rendering the unsuitable for residential development. Six households and 100+ privately owned allotments remain today.

And victims of dodgy developers

Midway between Werribee and Rockbank is Chartwell Estate – a subdivision created in the 1950s and marketed to new English migrants, and since restructured in the 1980s to facilitate limited residential development.

Swallowed by suburbia

The township of Kalkallo is located on the northern edge of Melbourne, on the Hume Highway just north of Craigieburn, and predates current planning rules.

The Kalkallo township was established in the pre-1851 squatting era and is an excellent examples of early rural town settlement. The township was subdivided into small allotments without regard for the provision of services or the effects of inadequate effluent disposal. As a result many of the allotments are incapable of adequately supporting a dwelling.

So as Melbourne has crept towards the township, a restructure overlay has been placed over it, to ensure that sympathetic development occurs.

Fire hazards

In the hills east of Melbourne, the Yarra Ranges Council is worried about the bushfire risk.

The objectives of the Restructure Plans under the Restructure Overlay are to:

• Ensure that existing old and inappropriate subdivisions are restructured in a manner that reduces development densities, that provides development opportunities consistent with the capacity of the site and the area to absorb such development without adverse impact on the environment and landscape of the area and without creating undue social and utility servicing pressures.
• Ensure that the restructure of old and inappropriate subdivisions assists in achieving environmental and landscape objectives for the area generally and that development of these lots is environmentally sensitive in its siting, design and construction.
• Ensure that adequate and proper servicing arrangements are made whilst recognising that there are often environmental impacts and high costs associated with infrastructure and utility service provisions.
• Recognise that restructure lots generally have poor accessibility and are often in isolated locations removed from community and other service facilities.
• Recognise that restructure areas are often located in high fire hazard areas and that any new development must be sited and designed to minimise fire hazard.

The end result – a total of 134 separate restructure overlays.

Holiday homes by the beach

I discovered Summerlands Estate of Phillip Island and the mysterious “This area is subject to a Government acquisition program” note alongside as a child. Developed from the 1920s in the middle of the penguin habitat, environmental concerns saw the “Summerland Estate Buy-Back Programme” launched in 1985, that saw the entire suburb wiped off the map by 2010.

The nearby ‘Scenic Estate’ was a similar situation – again redeveloped as a nature park.

The same concerns apply along the Victorian coast.

Old and Inappropriate Subdivisions along the coast is an issue that planning has been attempting to deal with for some time. Most subdivisions occurred prior to formal planning laws being introduced. Issues being grappled with include: potential coastal erosion; climate change impacts; and development thresholds.

Point Roadknight near Anglesea is an uncontentious example.

The Anglesea Neighbourhood Character Study (2003) identified two areas in Point Roadknight where the lots are substantially smaller in width and site area to the general pattern of allotments in the area.

Lots in the area adjoining Great Ocean Road are approximately 9.3m wide and have an area of 523m². Lots fronting Eighth and Eleventh Avenues are approximately 9.3m wide and have an area of 417m². This compares with the predominant lot size of 1000-1500m² in the surrounding areas. These lots result from past inappropriate subdivision, and in the majority of cases are owned in groups of two or three, with an existing dwelling constructed across the boundaries of the lots.

The Study flagged that if the lots in these land parcels were to each be developed individually for a dwelling, or re-subdivided to facilitate this outcome, it would result in an adverse impact on the character of the surrounding area. A recent example of the type of development being discouraged is at 59 Eighth Avenue, where the boundaries of two lots (each 417m²) were realigned to facilitate the construction of two dwellings, resulting in a crowded development that is uncharacteristic of the area.

Since restructured.

Landowners fight back

Attempts to restructure land in South Gippsland saw landowners fight back – Toora being one example.

But the Wellington Shire Council’s handling of Ninety Mile Beach subdivisions went to the Victorian Ombudsman:

The story of the development of Ninety Mile Beach is a sorry tale indeed. Thousands of people, mostly migrants, lured by developers with the promise of their own slice of paradise on Victoria’s own Gold Coast. The brochures promise a well-planned resort, with shopping centres and amenities, illustrated by pictures of glamorous women in bathing costumes on the golden sands.

Then as the years wear on the promises unravel. Much of the land cannot be developed, at least in its present form. Some of it is beach dunes. Some of it is flood-prone. Much of it is inaccessible. Successive environmental studies confirm what should have been seen at the outset, that it should never have been sold off in the first place. The original developers have disappeared.

In the meantime, some owners have continued to pay rates and other charges on their now worthless slices of paradise. Others have refused to pay. Yet others have sold their land back to the council for the nominal sums reflecting the land’s current value, later accusing the council of profiteering. In recent years the anger and frustration of many current and former landowners seems to have escalated, and to date has resulted in 67 complaints to my office.

Since then it has been recommended that blocks on coastal dunes and in flood-prone areas should be acquired by the State Government, while those in ‘urban settlement nodes’ can be developed, but only if the original individual lots are combined with three others to form a single block.

Impacts on agriculture

In Melbourne’s outer east Cardinia Shire Council has seen inappropriate subdivisions encroach on agricultural land.

In the area south of the Princes Highway, there are also many areas that were subdivided into 20 acre parcels as part of the draining of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. These areas often contain high quality productive soils and many are within the Koo-wee-rup Flood Protection District, therefore they are subject to regular flooding. Many of the lots are also held in contiguous ownership and are being farmed as one farming unit.

It is considered that the development of housing on lots at the density of the original subdivision will compromise the long term agricultural productivity of the land and would substantially alter the character of the area. The Restructure overlay has been put in place to restrict the number of dwellings being constructed on lots that are in contiguous ownership.

The Mount Alexander Shire Council has similar concerns in the Victorian gold fields, where farmland around Ravenswood, Muckleford and Maldon is at risk of being developed for residential uses.

The lots in these areas mainly comprise old Crown Allotments which are significantly smaller than the minimum lot size allowed under the Farming Zone (40 hectares) and which if developed with dwellings could lead to the entrenchment of these areas as rural living areas.

This is not supported because it would remove land from productive agricultural use and in many cases will also be incompatible with the environmental values of the areas. In addition, some of the areas are relatively remote from townships and services.

Conditional on access

In the Shire of Murrindindi restructure plans, development of one allotment is conditional on access being approved to the Maroondah Highway.

While another restructure allotment is reserved to provide access to a neighbouring parcel that is landlocked.

And protecting townships in the middle of nowhere

In the south-west the Colac Otway Shire has restructured subdivisions in Cressy, Gerangamete, Pirron Yallock and Irrewillipe.

The Surf Coast Shire has restructured the outskirts of Deans Marsh.

South Gippsland Shire restructured historically envisaged railway and port settlements, and State Government land settlement schemes from the late 19th century.

As well as former coalmining townships.

And the Pyrenees Shire in western Victoria have put in place restructure overlays on the townships of Avoca, Wattle Creek, Beaufort and Snake Valley, amongst others.

And the most bizarre example

Sandstone Island is a 20 hectare island located one kilometre southeast of Hastings, which was bizzarly subdivided into 142 suburban-sized allotments during the 1960s.

Sandstone Island is rural freehold land held in single ownership and is isolated and constrained by its geographical location and lack of infrastructure. The Island is bordered by steep, grassy coastal bluffs. The Island contains an existing dwelling and shed and there is no provision for tourism or commercial uses.

So the restructuring of them into a single allotment was an obvious solution.

The legal bits

The Victoria Planning Provisions detail what a “Restructure Overlay” is.

Restructure Overlays are shown on the planning scheme map as RO with a number.

Purpose

• To implement the Municipal Planning Strategy and the Planning Policy Framework.
• To identify old and inappropriate subdivisions which are to be restructured.
• To preserve and enhance the amenity of the area and reduce the environmental impacts of dwellings and other development.

Subdivision

• A permit is required to subdivide land.
• A subdivision must be in accordance with a restructure plan for the land listed in the schedule to this overlay.
• Each lot must be provided with reticulated sewerage if available. If reticulated sewerage is not available, the application must be accompanied by a land assessment report which demonstrates that each lot is capable of treating and retaining all waste water.

Decision guidelines

Before deciding on an application, in addition to the decision guidelines in Clause 65, the responsible
authority must consider, as appropriate:

• The objectives of the restructure plan for the area.
• Appropriate measures to cope with any environmental hazard or constraint affecting the land, including slope, drainage, salinity and erosion.
• The protection and enhancement of the natural environment and the character of the area including the retention of vegetation and fauna habitats and the need to revegetate along waterways, gullies, ridge lines and property boundaries.
• The availability of utility services, including sewerage, water, drainage, electricity, gas and telecommunications.
• The relationship of the intended use and development to the existing or likely use and development of adjoining and nearby land.
• The effect on surrounding uses, especially agricultural uses and nearby public land.

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Melway Edition 22 Map 431 (1993)

Paying a visit to Summerlands

It took me until 2011 to finally visit Summerlands in person.

The views were fantastic.

But all I found was a ghost town.

Gravel tracks leading into the scrub.

And a handful of abandoned houses.

Ready to be demolished.

So what happened?

Google Maps satellite imagery (2016)

A history of Summerlands

Subdivision of Summerlands commenced in the 1920s with 12 large allotments created, along with features such as a roundabout and cypress trees that were still visible decades later. Between 1927 and 1931, 227 new blocks were created, and from 1929 to 1940 there was a nine-hole golf course on what is now the Penguin Parade car park.

Photo from the Phillip Island and District Historical Society collection

In 1950s, a further 437 blocks were created, and the final subdivisions were carried out in 1958 and 1961 on land closer to The Nobbies. Much of the land was sold to speculators rather than those interested in building on it, and by 1974 only 11 percent of the 986 blocks of land had been cleared or built on.

Phillip Island Nature Parks photo

By the 1970s it was recognised that residential development of the estate would threaten the adjacent penguin colony, but it was not until 1985 that the Victorian Government launched the “Summerland Estate Buy-Back Programme” to purchase all 774 allotments on the Summerland Peninsula and add them to the Phillip Island Nature Park, with a projected end date of 2000. This decision meant that land owners could not build on their land, improve their properties, or sell them to anyone but the Government.

In the years that followed a total of 732 properties were been voluntarily sold by their owners, at a cost to the government of around a million dollars a year.

Phillip Island Nature Parks photo

With the final push made in 2007, when the decision was made to compulsorily acquire the final 42 properties – 20 empty blocks and 22 with houses, held by 34 private owners – over the next three years, at a cost of $15 million.

Bass Coast Planning Scheme – Public Acquisition Overlay at Summerlands Estate as of 23 May 2007

A tour of the last remaining houses

In February 2008 the Google Street View car did the rounds of Summerlands Estate, capturing the last remaining houses.

Classic 1950s fibro beach houses.

1970s brick.

Or looking to have been built just before the 1985 land buyback.

Some were out in the middle of an empty plain.

Others nestled between the tea trees.

Or hidden away completely.

Some looking to be only used at holiday time.

Others looking like they were occupied year round.

With neat front gardens.

But some had already been demolished.

And the end

In 2007-08 five property purchases were settled and agreement to purchase one property was reached, along with six negotiated purchase offers and one offer for compulsory acquisition. In 2008-09 fourteen properties were purchased taking the total number to 25, leaving 17 properties still to be acquired, a process completed in June 2010.

Land Victoria showing Summerlands Estate land still under separate titles as of 13 June 2011

At the time of my 2011 visit, the Summerlands Estate was being returned to nature.

The roads had been closed to vehicles.

Few houses remained.

Excavators at work clearing them away.

Leaving behind a front fence.

Gardens.

An empty block where houses once stood.

Building rubble.

Ready for new tree plantings.

Introduced trees has been ringbarked.

Slowly killing them.

Before their eventual removal.

Power lines were also being removed.

Replaced by new underground wires.

And farewell

I drove past the house on the hill in 2011.

By 2013 the only trace left was a plot of freshly planted trees.

I wonder how it looks a decade on.

Further reading

• Govt forces penguin reserve land buyback (ABC News, 2007)
• When Phillip Island penguins won, and land owners lost (ABC News, 2018)
• To Save Tiny Penguins, This Suburb Was Wiped Off the Map (New York Times, 2019)
• Summerlands Rehabilitation Project (Phillip Island Nature Parks, 2015)
• Department of Sustainability and Environment. “Annual Report 2008 – Report of Operations”
• Department of Sustainability and Environment. “Annual Report 2009 – Report of Operations”

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