My Suggested Footscray To Frankston Arterial

Footscray and Frankston are two of the six Central Activities Districts in Melbourne’s master plan for future growth. These districts are the largest of activity centres outside of the CBD. Another of the six is Dandenong. 

In this post I am suggesting a series of motorways and major arterial roads, some already existing, that will connect these three activity centres in a direct south-east/south-west route. 

This system of roads will also connect with other major motorways, such as the West Gate Freeway to form a variety of alternative routes that could take you from one extreme end of suburbia to the other - taking pressure off major motorways such as the Monash Freeway which sees extreme levels of congestion at times. 

For example, on this suggested series of motorways and arterial roads, one could drive from Rosebud to Melton which would be a trip of 110 km’s of continuous motorways and arterial roads without using the Eastlink or the Monash Freeway. Tolls paid would be approximately $7 for driving on my suggested elevated motorway (explained below). Incidentally, the current route via the Eastlink and the Monash Freeway is a span of 120 km’s of continuous motorways which currently includes around $15 of tolls for a standard vehicle on a one-way trip. 

MY SUGGESTION: I will start painting the picture at Footscray. Driving along the major roads of Footscray Rd or Dynon Rd connects one to Wurundjeri Way (particularly when Dynon Rd is extended as part of the Western Distributer Project). Traveling on Wurundjeri Way, before hitting Flinders St a tunnel would take the vehicle under the Yarra River and resurface at the other end on Kings Way south of the City Link. 

After exiting the tunnel, the road immediately becomes an elevated motorway that runs along the middle of Kings Way and then along Queens Rd. At the end of Queens Rd this elevated road rises higher to connect to Brighton Rd / Nepean Hwy. The elevated road continues along Nepean Hwy all the way to South Rd where the elevated road turns east and then drops to ground level after crossing Warrigal Rd. There would be numerous on and off ramps connecting to the road bellow as one drives along this elevated road. These ramps would be quite cheap and easy to build on a simple design like this. 

After crossing over Warrigal Rd, the elevated motorway ends and now joins the Dingley Bypass, an existing major arterial road. Traveling along the Dingley Bypass, before hitting Westall Rd (which is also an arterial Rd that connects with the Dandenong Bypass at one end and intersects with the Princes Hwy as well as a future extension to the Monash freeway at the other end) one would turn right onto the Mordialloc Freeway currently under construction. The other route (if not taking the Mordialloc Freeway) via Westall Rd and the Dandenong Bypass provides an arterial route directly into the industrial part of Dandenong. 

Now heading south on the Mordialloc Freeway, one has a clear run all the way onto the Mornington Peninsula Freeway (which currently ends at Springvale Rd - city bound) with no traffic lights along the way. It’s interesting to note that the Mornington Peninsula Freeway continues for quite a long distance and ends at Rosebud (in future it will be extended to Blairgowrie). 

Heading to Frankston, though, one exits the Mornington Peninsula Freeway quite early, before it crosses over the Eastlink Tollway. This takes one onto the Frankston Freeway.  Driving along the Frankston Freeway takes one all the way into the heart of Frankston. This ends our journey along my suggested series of motorways and arterial roads between Footscray and Frankston.

I think that a project like this would have numerous benefits, yet it would be relatively quite cheap to build compared with other local projects, when you consider that there is only a small section that requires tunnelling. Building an elevated motorway is considerably cheaper to build than a tunnel and the ongoing maintenance is cheaper too. 

To be clear, vehicles traveling along the elevated road above Kings Way could turn left onto the West Gate Freeway and then onto the Bolte bridge to exit onto Footscray Rd and drive into Footscray. The point of connecting Kings Way with Wurundjeri Way via a tunnel is more about creating more options of travel routes. 

For example: Vehicles traveling north on Kings Way (or the elevated road above it) could bypass the CBD and King St by travelling through the tunnel and on to Wurundjeri Way/Dudley St/Peel St. Others would use the tunnel to avoid the major queues on Kings Way leading to the entrance of the West Gate Freeway. 

Still others would use the tunnel to avoid the West Gate Freeway altogether during heavy peak periods when the freeway is clogged. Many would even use it to access the Western Distributor and completely bypass the slow-moving traffic travelling over the West Gate Bridge during peak hour. The Western Distributor would then send them onto the West Gate Freeway after the Williamstown/Melbourne Rd exit.  Upon entering the West Gate Freeway, they would be welcomed by a well flowing six lane (in each direction) road that has been upgraded thanks to the Western Distributor Project. Two lanes more than the section they bypassed. 

Regarding the elevated motorway that would run along Kings Way and Queens Rd, this would take much pressure off the roads below it during peak hour as well as weekends. The same applies to the Nepean Hwy through the built-up areas of St Kilda East, Balaclava and Elsternwick during peak times where the traffic is very slow moving and where one finds themselves constantly waiting for lights to go green. I can see people using this elevated road in order to avoid this section of Nepean Hwy alone.