Craigieburn Bypass

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Photo showing the Barry Road footbridge, which reveals the skyline of Melbourne dramatically as the road curves around underneath it.

The Craigieburn Bypass is a 17 kilometre freeway bypass of the traffic-clogged Hume Highway between Campbellfield and Craigieburn in Melbourne's northern suburbs. The bypass starts at the Metropolitan Ring Road, Thomastown and merges with the Hume Highway north of Craigieburn. The Bypass is intended to replace the frequently gridlocked Hume Highway as the main entry road into Melbourne for rural or interstate visitors.

The road attracted some opposition by several local governments in the northern suburbs, including the City of Darebin and the City of Moreland, as well as local environmental groups. Their objections were not accepted by the state government [1] and the project went ahead.

1 Benefits
2 Features
3 Interchanges
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Benefits

Now complete, the Craigieburn Bypass provides the following benefits:

Vehicles avoid 12 sets of traffic lights along the new section of road, which will reduce travel times along the clogged Hume Highway.
Travel times drop by around thirty minutes during peak times.
Improved road safety for motorists accessing businesses and homes along, and near, the Hume Highway
Improved access for the freight industry - it will be possible for trucks to leave the industrial area of Sydney and travel non-stop to the southern tip of Melbourne.

[edit] Features

Noise Walls: More than four kilometres of noise barriers have been installed between the roadway and surrounding residential areas.

The Northern Lights: A high-tech display lighting system that has been installed along an Acryllic wall. The wall uses a combination of red, green and blue Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) mounted on transparent Acryllic to deliver an array of blended colours at nightfall. The feature wall is believed to be the first installation of this type anywhere in the world.

Barry Road Pedestrian Bridge: A pedestrian bridge has been built over the bypass and links the City of Whittlesea Public Gardens with the proposed Merri Creek linear park.

Shared Pathways: There is a shared pathway which runs along the length of the bypass, which is split into two lanes for pedestrian and cyclist usage. The pathway is around ten feet East of the main roadway until Craigieburn Road East, whereupon it switches to the West side until the Amaroo Road bridge. The path crosses roads at three places:

Cooper Street (flat approach, traffic lights)
O'Herns Road (flat approach, underpass)
Craigieburn Road East (steep incline, traffic lights)

The path will connect with the existing Metropolitan Ring Road path, from where it is possible to connect to the Merri Creek Trail, Western Ring Road Trail, the City of Whittlesea Public Gardens and Edgars Road.