Eastern Freeway

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Eastern Freeway
Length 18 km
General direction West-East
From Collingwood
via Bulleen, Doncaster, Box Hill North
To Donvale
Established 1970s
Major Junctions Hoddle Street, Doncaster Road, Springvale Road

The Eastern Freeway is one of Melbourne's major freeways, connecting Alexandra Parade and Hoddle St in the inner suburbs, with Springvale Road in Melbourne's east. It is mostly three lanes in each direction, including an inbound "transit lane" reserved for vehicles with two or more occupants during peak hour.

Contents

[edit] History

Originally designated F-19 during its construction in the ealy 1970s, it was supposed to be linked to the then-new Tullamarine Freeway. Protests from inner Melbourne suburbs residents led it be terminated at Hoddle St. From there it stretches to Doncaster. Its eventual designation was .

It is designed to take traffic off Maroondah Highway. In late 1997, it was extended to Donvale. Extensions to Ringwood are currently being done, due for completion within five years which will connect the Eastern Freeway with the new EastLink arterial, and under current plans, this section from Springvale Rd to Maroondah Hwy will be tolled with the rest of Eastlink.

The Eastern Freeway was designed with the idea of constructing a heavy-rail track down its median, and engineering provisions for this had been made, examples include the lack of support pylons for bridges crossing the freeway and the generous space afforded by the median strip. Although the plan eventually fell out of favour in the 1980s, 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.[1]

[edit] Extension Plans

There has been widespread interest in building a tunnel linking from Hoddle st at the city end, joining to CityLink and the Western Ring road, the Eastern does not connect up to any freeways in the city and traffic from the Eastern is poured on to Alexandra Pde and Hoddle St, particularly to concerns there will be a major traffic bottleneck once the Eastlink opens and the future plans of opening the Healesville and Metropolitan Ring Road extension to The Eastern Freeway. The idea has been mooted since the Kennett Government brought up 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. 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.

[edit] Speed enforcement

The entire freeway has an 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.

[edit] Interchanges

[edit] List of interchanges

Hoddle St, viewed from the East.
Hoddle St, viewed from the East.

At its entrance at Hoddle St, exiting traffic causes congestion in the inner suburbs. It is currently designated , and forms the border between a number of suburbs. Interchanges are

The freeway then flows into Alexandra Parade (Eastern Highway) .

[edit] Freeway Plan

To have a closer look at the plan, please click the image

Eastern Freeway viewed facing the city at Sunset from the Belford Road Overpass, in Kew
Eastern Freeway viewed facing the city at Sunset from the Belford Road Overpass, in Kew

[edit] Sources

  1. ^ http://www.notunnels.org/from-nov05/AGE-howToFixMelbournesWoes-12nov05.html

See List of Melbourne freeways

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