First beams up at Maidstone Street

We’re removing the dangerous and congested level crossing at Maidstone Street, Altona, by building a new road bridge over the rail line to improve safety and create better connections.

The new Maidstone Street road bridge in Altona is taking shape, with the first concrete beams now lifted into place.

The bridge is being built as part of removing the dangerous and congested Maidstone Street level crossing.

An 800 tonne mobile crane has lifted 6 beams – each weighing up to 75 tonnes and nearly 33m long – to form the new road bridge that will separate trains from drivers, pedestrians and cyclists for good.

A total of 16 concrete beams and one steel span will be lifted into place over 4 sections, with the first span of concrete beams now in place south of the level crossing.

The remaining 3 sections will be lifted in stages over the coming months, avoiding lengthy road closures.

Crews have been busy, starting to build a temporary road on the northern side of the rail line. This will allow vehicles to continue to use Maidstone Street while works continue behind road barriers.

Traffic will switch to the temporary road later this year, meaning fewer road closures and significantly reducing disruptions to the community.

The Maidstone Street level crossing will be gone for good and the new road bridge open in 2027, improving safety and easing congestion for the 14,400 drivers using the crossing each day.

Five level crossings are going for good in Melbourne’s inner west, at Newport, Altona, Spotswood and Yarraville, boosting safety, easing congestion and making the Werribee Line boom gate free by 2030.

Why this level crossing needs to go

• 14,400 vehicles travel through the level crossing each day and 48 trains pass through during the morning peak (7am to 9am)
• Boom gates are down for up to 21% of the morning peak (7am to 9am)
• Werribee Line level crossing free by 2030

Maidstone Street shared use path

As part of the Maidstone Street road bridge, we're building a new shared use path to boost pedestrian and bike rider connections in the area.

The 2m wide path will run on the western side of the bridge through to Ajax Road, providing a continuation of off-road paths between Morrow Street and north of the existing level crossing.

The shared use path design allows for future bike infrastructure upgrades between existing on-road cycling corridors on Civic Parade and Kororoit Creek Road.

We're delivering almost 700m of new pedestrian and cycling paths, set to open in 2027.

Read our fact sheet to learn more about the new shared use path.

Stay up to date

The best way to stay up to date with the project is to:

• Sign up to email updates
• Register for SMS updates by texting MAIDSTONE to 0419 187 443
• Call us on 1800 105 105
• Email levelcrossings@bigbuild.vic.gov.au