Project to deliver 33km of extra lanes will take three years to complete
Transurban has signed an agreement with the Victorian Government to add extra lanes to its CityLink freeway in Melbourne in a move that will also increase tolls for heavy vehicles.
Transurban will spend $850 million widening the CityLink Tullamarine corridor, which is one of the busiest roads in Melbourne.
Roads minister Terry Mulder says the widening project will improve the flow of traffic across the 19km section of freeway from the CityLink tunnels to Melrose Drive in Tullamarine.
“The project will add extra lanes in each direction between the Bolte Bridge and the Tullamarine Freeway at Melrose Drive, as well as extra lanes on the Bolte Bridge and a section of the West Gate Freeway (eastbound) between Bolte Bridge and Power Street,” he says.
“A freeway management system will be implemented incorporating lane use management, ramp metering, CCTV cameras and variable message signs.”
Truck drivers will pay higher tolls on Melbourne’s CityLink freeway from April 2017 when the upgrade is completed in 2018.
Tolls will be frozen at current rates during the construction phase, beginning in October next year.
The Age has reported that trucks will be charged a toll three times as high as those of cars during daytime hours, and twice the car rate at night.
Trucks currently pay 1.9 times the standard car rate for travel on CityLink at all times.
Transurban CEO Scott Charlton says the project, which involves connecting the Tullamarine and Westgate freeways, will boost the capacity of the entire network by 30 per cent.
“The extra lane capacity will support the rapidly growing suburbs in Melbourne’s north and west as well as improve travel time reliability for the 150,000 vehicles using CityLink’s western link every day, including 14,000 freight vehicles that rely on the Tullamarine Freeway to access the Melbourne Port, Melbourne Airport and other Victorian and interstate freeways,” he says.
The Tullamarine and Westgate Freeways will remain toll-free.
Works will progressively start from early 2015 with major construction works on the freeway beginning in October 2015.
Correction: The original version of this story stated higher tolls for trucks would take effect in 2018. The correct date is 2017.
Photography: TK Kurikawa | Shutterstock