Designs for the Eastern Freeway Upgrades from Hoddle Street to Burke Road on exhibition now.
The local community can help refine designs for the final stage of the Eastern Freeway Upgrades from Hoddle Street to Burke Road, with designs released today.
The Urban Design and Landscape Plan (UDLP) responds to close to three years of community consultation, and more than 15,000 pieces of feedback received through the project’s planning stages.
A new walking and cycling bridge over the Yarra River in Kew and 4.7 kilometres of new and upgraded paths will give people more trip choices and make it quicker and easier to walk or ride a bike to Yarra River parklands and the inner city.
The upgrades will also deliver the final 6-kilometre piece of Melbourne’s first dedicated busway along the Eastern Freeway, including connections for local routes at Chandler Highway in Kew.
The new Eastern Busway will work with the completed Streamlining Hoddle Street project to make bus journeys to and from the city faster and more reliable for more than 6 million trips a year.
One extra freeway lane in each direction will be added between Chandler Highway and Burke Road to improve traffic flow around the Chandler Highway ramps, and new traffic management technology will improve travel times.
6 kilometres of noise reducing asphalt will be laid to better manage traffic noise at the source, with 1.9 kilometres of new noise walls built using designs and colours inspired by the freeway’s existing rock escarpments.
More than 6,000 trees and over 400,000 shrubs, groundcovers and grasses will be planted to help return areas where construction is needed with improvements, including along new and upgraded paths and to green the Chandler Highway and Burke Road interchanges.
The UDLP is available for public comment on Engage Victoria until Sunday 16 November 2025. For more information, visit engage.vic.gov.au.
Community feedback will help finalise the plan before it is submitted to the Minister for Planning for approval, ahead of major construction starting in 2026.
When complete, the Eastern Freeway Upgrades will connect seamlessly with the new 6.5 kilometre North East Link — linking Melbourne’s east with the M80 Ring Road, slashing travel times by 35 minutes and taking 15,000 trucks off local roads a day.