Dingley Freeway

Infobox Australian Road
type = freeway
road_name = Dingley Freeway
route_

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route_

route_

photo =
caption = The Westall Road section of the Dingley Freeway is marked as State Route 49. All other sections are currently not marked with a route number.
length = 19
direction = West-East
start =
finish =
through = Dingley Village, Keysborough, Dandenong
route =
exits = "Present"
"'

The Dingley Freeway is a partially completed semi-freeway standard road which runs east to west through the southern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.

Although the road was designed to be a freeway for the full length of the planned 19 kilometre route, it has been instead constructed as bypasses for the Melbourne suburbs of Mordialloc, Springvale, and Dandenong over the years.

Intended Course

Starting at the intersection of Warrigal Road and South Road in Moorabbin, the route travels east, crossing Old Dandenong Road, Clarinda Road, Kingston Road and Boundary Road before intersecting with the proposed northern extension of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway. It then interchanges with Westall Road as the route starts to travel in a south easterly direction. The route then crosses Springvale Road, Cheltenham Road, Chapel Road, Stanley Road, Perry Road and Chandler Road before approaching a diamond interchange with the EastLink tollway. The route then continues east crossing Hammond Road, Dandenong - Frankston Road and the South Gippsland Highway before finishing with a fully grade separated T interchange with the South Gippsland Freeway in Dandenong South.

The freeway was originally designated in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as part of the F2 Freeway corridor. The original plan shows the freeway extending down South Road over Nepean Highway heading north through Brighton and Elwood, following the Barkly Street-Punt Road-Hoddle Street corridor up through Merri Creek joining the Craigieburn Bypass to the Hume Highway.

Completed sections

outh Road Extension

The South Road Extension runs along the Dingley Freeway route from Warrigal Road in Moorabbin to Old Dandenong Road in Oakleigh South. This was designed to remove traffic from White Street, Mordialloc as it was experiencing heavy-local traffic congestion, as a result of the most direct route linking the Mornington Peninsula Freeway with the Nepean Highway, along with Boundary and Wells Road.

The one kilometre extension commenced construction in September 2006 and was completed by the end of 2007, at a cost of $9.3 million dollars for the South Road extension alone, but cost $24.5 million dollars when combined with the associated projects.

The works involved constructing a two lane road to bypass a stretch of Old Dandenong Road which travelled through a residential area to Warrigal Road. A bicycle path was also constructed along the length of the extension. The extension also involved improvements to Old Dandenong Road and surrounding intersections as well as permanently blocking access to Old Dandenong Road north of the extension. The extension has a speed limit of 70km/h.

Despite the road having successfully removed traffic from Old Dandenong Road (between Warrigal Road and the current South Road connection) it has also created a major bottleneck at the intersection of Kingston and Old Dandenong Road, particularly during peak hour. This intersection will be receiving a major traffic signal upgrade in the coming months. [ [http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/RoadsAndProjects/RoadProjects/SouthEasternSuburbs/SouthRoadExtensionPackage.htm South Road Extension Package: VicRoads] Retrieved on August 22 2008.]

Westall Road Extension

The Westall Road Extension runs along the Dingley Freeway route from Westall Road to Springvale Road in Springvale South. It commenced construction in 1994 and was finished in 1995. The extension is also known as the Springvale Bypass.

The works involved creating a 2.8km divided four lane semi-freeway standard road to bypass the busy and congested centre of Springvale. The extension involves constructing part of the Dingley Freeway to the future site of an interchange with Westall Road before travelling along a temporary alignment to join up with the extended Westall Road south of Heatherton Road. A speed limit of 100km/h applies between Heatherton Road and Rowan Road, while a 80km/h limit applies on the approaches to Heatherton and Springvale Roads. A bicycle path was completed along the entire length of the road.

Associated works included a northern extension of Westall Road from Rayhur Street, Springvale to Princes Highway in Clayton. Westall Road from Heatherton Road to Centre Road consisted of a two lane undivided road while the road from Centre Road to the Princes Highway was constructed as a six lane divided road. In order to enable Westall Road to truly serve as a high capacity alternative route to Springvale Road, the level crossing with the Cranbourne / Pakenham railway line was grade separated in conjunction with duplication works to upgrade Westall Road to a six lane divided road between Heatherton Road and Centre Road. These works were completed by April 2001. [ [http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/11453D7F-5730-4C28-A8DE-81037A852FE4/0/section_5_rsm.pdf VicRoads - Road Safety Management] Page 5]

Dandenong Bypass

The Dandenong Bypass runs along the Dingley Freeway route from Perry Road in Keysborough to the South Gippsland Highway in Dandenong South. The bypass commenced construction in late 2005 and opened on December 9, 2007. [ [http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22896455-2862,00.html EastLink tollway to open six months early] "Herald Sun" December 10 2007. Retrieved on December 12 2007.]

The 4.8km bypass was constructed as part of the EastLink project, with the $65 million dollar works involving the creation of a four lane divided road with traffic light controlled access at roads which run north-south along the constructed route. The works also involved the construction of an overpass at the Cranbourne railway line as well as a diamond interchange with EastLink. The entire bypass has a 80 km/h speed limit.

Original exits and intersections

References

External links

* [http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/12108CAF-78AE-4C16-867B-5CC4ACA1055A/0/050812SouthRoadProjectUpdateDraft.pdf VicRoads - South Road Extension Package Document]
* [http://www.seita.com.au/pages/dandenong-bypass.asp Dandenong Bypass - Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority (SEITA)]