Fast track … A noise wall on the Deer Park Bypass. 28001 Picture: SUPPLIED
By Cimara Pearce
MOTORISTS in the West will be able to travel on the much-anticipated Deer Park Bypass within the next month.
Roads Minister Tim Pallas last week announced the bypass would be operational from Sunday 5 April – eight months earlier than originally planned.
The $331 million bypass is expected to relieve pressure on the Western Highway and will be used by local and interstate traffic.
Mr Pallas said motorists who travelled on the bypass to get to the Western Ring Road instead of using the Western Highway would avoid six sets of traffic lights and 20 intersections during their journey.
“It will deliver jobs and improve the productivity of the community… it will allow people to move in and around our community more efficiently,” Mr Pallas said.
Key features of the 9.3 kilometre project include two freeway standard lanes in each direction, freeway interchanges with direct access to the Western Highway, Christies Rd, Robinsons Rd and the Western Ring Rd, an overpass of the Melbourne to Ballarat rail line, an underpass at Mt Derrimut Rd, noise walls and a shared path for cyclists and pedestrians.
The bypass will be able to carry up to 70,000 cars daily but Mr Pallas anticipated around 50,000 motorists would use it on a day-to-day basis.
Construction began on the $331 million Federal and State Government project in February 2007.
Mr Pallas’s announcement was welcome news for the Western Highway Action Committee.
Secretary Glenn Davis said the bypass would save lives, with the Western Highway notorious for serious heavy vehicle accidents.
“The Western Highway Action Committee greatly supports the Deer Park Bypass … it will re-direct heavy vehicles onto roads with less traffic congestion, with less traffic lights and a higher speed limit and as a result the accident rate will be reduced,” Mr Davis said.
Gorton MP Brendan O’Connor said safer travel in the Brimbank and Melton municipalities had been one of the aims of the projects.
“A better and safer connection between the Ring Road and the Western Freeway will deliver major national economic and road safety benefits for the freight industry, its customers and for people living and working in Melbourne’s West,” Mr O’Connor said.
A 100km/h speed limit will be placed on the bypass and an open day will be held on 5 April, with the community invited to attend and tour the works.
