- Eastern Freeway
Infobox Australian Road | type=freeway
road_name = Eastern Freeway
route_
route_
route_
photo =
caption = Formerly
length = 18
direction = West-East
start =
finish =
est = 1970s
through = Bulleen, Doncaster, Box Hill North
route =
exits =The Eastern Freeway is an urban
freeway inMelbourne ,Australia . It is one of the most important freeways in terms of commuting to the city, connecting Alexandra Parade and Hoddle St in the inner suburbs, with EastLink tollway in Melbourne's east. It is three to five lanes in each direction, including an inboundtransit lane reserved for vehicles with two or more occupants during peak hour.History
Originally designated F-19 during its construction in the early 1970s, it was supposed to be linked to the then-new
Tullamarine Freeway , as well as taking traffic off theMaroondah Highway . Protests from inner Melbourne suburbs residents led it be terminated at Hoddle St. Stage 1 finshed at Bulleen Road, it opened during December 1977. Stage 2 to Doncaster Road opened on 3 June 1982, and stage 3 in December 1997 to Springvale Road, Nunawading. Its eventual designation was arterial, a toll road which goes to Ringwood and join the Monash and Frankston Freeways.The Eastern Freeway was designed to enable the heavy-rail Doncaster line to be built down the middle of it to Bulleen Road, with support pylons for bridges kept out of the extra wide median strip. Land was reserved to build the railway line to East Doncaster, but the plan fell out of favour in the 1980s and the land was sold.cite journal
year = 1998
month = February
title = Whatever Happened to the Proposed Railway to Doncaster East
author = Stephen Cauchi
journal = Newsrail
publisher = Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division)
volume = 26
issue = 2
pages = page 40–44 ] In recent years, amidst growing congestion problems in Melbourne, the idea has been revived and public pressure has been mounting for the project to be restarted. [ [http://www.notunnels.org/from-nov05/AGE-howToFixMelbournesWoes-12nov05.html How to fix Melbourne's woes ] ]As of
March 2008 , the route shield for the Eastern Freeway is now the .]Route
The Eastern Freeway starts at its junction with Hoddle Street, as an eastern continuation of
Alexandra Parade (referred to inVicroads documents as the Eastern Highway), with five lanes eastbound and two lanes westbound. Three more lanes (that provide an exit to Hoddle Street) join the freeway after it leaves the junction. The freeway narrows to four lanes in each direction near Chandler Highway and Yarra Bend.The freeway narrows to three lanes just before Bulleen Road, and features a concrete barrier rather than the grassy median that was designed to carry a railway (and may do so in the near or far future). There is a short four lane section between Tram and Blackburn Roads, then three lanes to the end at Springvale Road, and connected to the EastLink. The freeway is unique in that it does not connect to any other freeway before the EastLink was built, despite its heavy traffic, which is mainly cars driven by commuters to work.
Extension Plans
There has been widespread interest in building a tunnel linking Hoddle St to
CityLink and the Western Ring road. The Eastern Freeway does not connect to any freeways in the city and traffic from the Eastern is released along Alexandra Pde or at Hoddle St. As of 2008, the freeway at Springvale Road has been linked with the Eastlink tollway - a tolled section of freeway linking to Frankston. Particularly of concern, there will be a major traffic bottleneck at the Western end of the Eastern Freeway once the EastLink opens, as well as when the (future plans of opening the) Healesville and Metropolitan Ring Road extension to The Eastern Freeway occurs. The idea has been mooted since the Kennett Government raised the idea; however, the Kennett Government lost the 1999 election to Steve Bracks' Labor Party, and the Labor Government showed little sign of interest building the link.Opponents of the link cite the lack of long-sighted planning, urging resources and money to be spent on public transport rather than private automobile infrastructure, and the expense involved with the tunnelling and excavation of land, as reasons not to build it. On 1st March 2007, the Labor Government announced a study linking the major feeways which will be headed by former British Airways Chief and International Transport Expert Sir Rod Eddington. This report received much critisism for its lack of information regarding mass transit infrastructure.
peed enforcement
The entire freeway has a 100 km/h speed limit.
Victoria Police regularly patrol the full length of the freeway, strictly enforcing its speed limit. They mainly park in the centre median in the western section of the freeway, west of the Bulleen Road interchange, and east of Bulleen Road, police cars may be found in the emergency lane.Interchanges
Exits and Intersections
Freeway Plan
"To have a closer look at the plan, please click the image"
See also
*
Freeways in Australia
* Freeways in Melbourne
*Road transport in Victoria References
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