Road and rail upgrades that deliver better transport connections and support tens of thousands of jobs are set to ramp up over spring.
Victorians are being asked to prepare for disruption over the coming months as a result of five major road upgrades as well as work on the Craigieburn Line and the removal of a dangerous level crossing.
Workers will take advantage of having fewer cars on the road during the September school holidays to relocate and install gas, water, sewerage and power on Craigieburn Road between Hanson Road and Aitken Boulevard.
In addition to ongoing lane and local road closures, Craigieburn Road will have closures between Aitken Boulevard and Hanson Road between mid-September to early October. These major works are part of the Craigieburn Road Upgrade which will create extra lanes between the Hume Highway and Mickleham Road, upgraded intersections and better walking, cycling and public transport connections. The road will be open over the AFL Grand Final long weekend.
As part of early works package for Stage 1 of the Mickleham Road Upgrade, there will be lane closures, safety barriers and temporary speed reductions at the intersection of Somerton Road from late October until mid-2023.
The level crossing at Robinsons Road, Deer Park will be gone for good on Monday 12 September, months ahead of schedule. Robinsons Road will be closed from 9:00 pm Friday 2 September to 5:00 am Monday 12 September to carry out critical work ahead of the underpass opening.
The dangerous and congested Gap Road level crossing in Sunbury will also be removed and replaced with a new underpass. This will cause disruption on the Sunbury Line for two weekends from September 30 and 14 October.
As part of widening the West Gate Freeway, the Millers Road interchange is being upgraded to make it easier to enter the freeway. As work progresses through September and October there'll be road and lane closures on Millers Road, and freeway ramp closures from the West Gate Freeway to Millers Road.
Once this work is done, the West Gate Tunnel Project's works around Millers Road will be nearing completion.
Work is also progressing on the elevated road above Footscray Road that will link the West Gate Tunnels to Citylink and the CBD. There will be weekend and overnight closures of Footscray Road in September, October and November to install the portals the new road will sit on.
There will also be signal upgrades on the Craigieburn Line with work on the track protection warning system providing extra safety on shared Metro-V/Line lines.
Buses will replace trains between Essendon and Craigieburn from 9:00pm Wednesday 14 September to last service Sunday 18 September.
Victorians are asked to check for delays before they travel at bigbuild.vic.gov.au, as well as continue to wear a mask while on public transport.
As stated by Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan
"Our over $20 billion of road and rail upgrades in the west and northwest will continue to remove level crossings and upgrade our roads and rail to build for the future and back thousands of Victorian jobs."
"We are delivering the biggest investment in transport infrastructure in the state's history and we thank Victorians for their patience as we get on with the job."
As stated by Member for Sunbury Josh Bull
"We're making great progress on the Gap Road level crossing removal - I thank our local community for their patience and can't wait to see the benefits for those travelling on our roads and rail."
As stated by Member for Yuroke Ros Spence
"The Craigieburn Road Upgrade will improve traffic flow, help improve bus reliability and support better connections for the Craigieburn community. By also improving access to Craigieburn station, we are making it easier for you to get around your local area."
