Melbourne's Western Port Highway upgrades get underway

The existing Ballarto Road intersection. Image: Engage Victoria.

Construction is now under way for two interchange upgrades at Western Port Highway, a vital north-south corridor in Melbourne’s growing south-east region, following the award of the contract to Downer EDI Works.

The project, part of a $3 billion package of suburban and regional road upgrades in Victoria, will replace the roundabouts at the intersections of Ballarto Road and Cranbourne-Frankston Road with traffic lights to better manage traffic flow on and off Western Port Highway.

The project will build on improvements recently delivered by the Thompsons Road Upgrade and Hallam Road Upgrade and add further capacity to the local road network.

The upgrade will create about 350 direct jobs throughout construction, while improving safety and managing the traffic flow onto and off the Western Port Highway, for the 22,000 motorists who use the connection daily.

Early works on the project will involve concrete cutters, non-destructive digging trucks and drilling machines to expose the services underneath the road. Vegetation removal adjacent to the Western Port Highway intersections with Ballarto and Cranbourne-Frankston roads will also begin to make way for the upgraded intersections.

Victorian Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Jacinta Allan, said the upgrades would ease congestion in Melbourne’s south-east.

“These upgrades will reduce congestion and make driving easier and safer for Victorians in Melbourne’s rapidly growing south-eastern suburbs,” Minister Allan said.

Removing the roundabouts and installing traffic lights will mean that all four sets of traffic lights along the six kilometre stretch of Western Port Highway can be sequenced.

The Federal and Victorian governments are jointly funding the $115 million project, with completion expected by late 2022.

For more information on the project, click here.

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