Overview

Planning is underway for a potential upgrade of the Western Freeway between Melton and Caroline Springs to improve safety, freeway access and road capacity to help accommodate growing demand.

The Western Freeway is a critical road link and every single day approximately 86,000 vehicles travel the stretch between Melton and Caroline Springs, with this figure expected to rise to approximately 113,000 by 2031.

Potential options being explored to upgrade the Western Freeway between Harkness Road and Christies Road include:

• additional road lanes
• new interchanges and overpasses
• upgrades to existing interchanges
• upgrades to walking and cycling paths
• traffic signal and street lighting improvements
• public transport facilities.

Planning and development

We’re currently undertaking planning and development work to inform the potential Western Freeway Upgrade between Melton and Caroline Springs. This includes traffic modelling, engineering designs, constructability assessments, economic modelling, community engagement and environmental investigations.

This will give us a complete picture of the area, allow us to understand environmental and social impacts, develop project options, and confirm scope and costs of the different options.

Our planning will take into consideration the Precinct Structure Plans developed for the area as well as residential estate developments currently in planning or construction in the local area that will have an impact on the demand for the freeway.

The business case for the potential Western Freeway Upgrade was not subject to the Federal Infrastructure Investment Program Strategic Review and planning work continues. The Victorian and Australian governments have each committed $10 million to the development of the business case.

Technical investigations

To help inform our planning, we’re completing roadside technical investigations. At times, we may need to implement traffic control measures, including temporary lane closures, stop/slow traffic and reduced speeds. We’ll keep traffic disruption to a minimum and avoid busy periods.

Community feedback

From 11 November to 10 December 2023, we sought feedback from the community via Engage Victoria to help inform our planning and shape the development of project options for a potential Western Freeway Upgrade between Melton and Caroline Springs.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to provide feedback. More than 670 people attended our community pop up events to provide feedback in person, 2,749 community surveys were completed, and 1,612 comments were made on our interactive map.

Your feedback provided local insights that has helped us to understand community views on safety, traffic flow and what we should consider in our planning.

Feedback highlighted strong support for additional road lanes, upgrades to some existing interchanges, suggested locations for several new interchanges and to provide better active transport connections to make it easier and safer to walk and cycle in the area.

99% of respondents are supportive of a potential upgrade to the Western Freeway between Melton and Caroline Springs.

For further information on what you’ve said view the Community Consultation Summary Report (PDF, 1.0 MB).

Timeline

A business case is currently being developed which will provide a detailed examination of the potential upgrade to help inform government decision-making.