Mornington Peninsula Freeway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mornington Peninsula Freeway | |
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Southern section formerly  Proposed  to replace  [1] |
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| Length | 27 km |
| General direction | North-South |
| From |  Springvale Road, Chelsea Heights, Melbourne |
| Major suburbs | Patterson Lakes, Seaford, Frankston, Moorooduc, Tuerong, Dromana, McCrae |
| To |  Boneo Road,Rosebud, Victoria |
| Allocation | Chelsea Heights - Rosebud:
  Mt. Martha - Safety Beach:  ) |
| Major Junctions | Northern section Thompsons Road EastLinkSouthern section   Nepean Highway  Nepean Highway Arthurs Seat Road
for full list see Exits and Intersections |
- See also: Frankston Freeway and Moorooduc Highway
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Mornington Peninsula Freeway is an incomplete Melbourne freeway that provides a link from suburban Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula.
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[edit] Future Route Numbering
When EastLink 
is completed in mid 2008 the route shield for the Mornington Peninsula Freeway will be changed to .
New signage on the southbound carriageway of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway in Carrum Downs, at the Rutherford Road exit and under the Eastlink overpass which displays Frankston Freeway to Frankston and Portsea.
To view signage in the northbound direction, please click here.
[edit] History
In the early 1960s the Frankston Freeway was known as the Wells Road Bypass . (By at least until 1979, the full length of Springvale Road also carried the shield.) The Wells Road Bypass was an undivided highway between Frankston-Cranbourne Road and Seaford Road. It then continued on to Mordialloc as Wells Road. The Wells Road Bypass was upgraded to freeway standard in the early 1970s and by around 1980 the rest of the freeway was constructed to Springvale Road alongside the existing Wells Road. At the time it was planned that the rest of the freeway be completed from Springvale Road onwards but a change of Government in 1982 saw a change in policy. The new policy was to duplicate Wells Rd through Aspendale Gardens and Boundary Rd through Braeside. By 1980, the Southern section of freeway known as the Mornington Peninsula Freeway (or Dromana Freeway) 
ran between Nepean Highway at Dromana and Jetty Road at Rosebud South. The freeway between Dromana and Moorooduc South linking to Moorooduc Highway was completed in the mid 1990s.
[edit] Route
The Mornington Peninsula Freeway is incomplete, and has been for decades (VicRoads having decided that traffic on the route was not heavy enough to merit a Frankston Bypass, the middle section of the freeway), and at this stage, there are actually two freeways, a northern section and a southern section, linked by a divided highway.
Its northern section links Springvale Road just outside Edithvale to the Moorooduc Highway in Frankston. It is signed with a shield, including the Moorooduc Highway. It changes names to become the Frankston Freeway in Carrum Downs south until Cranbourne Road, as the incomplete section of the actual Mornington Peninsula Freeway, which bypasses Frankston, swings off to the south east. The only exception to this is the change of alphanumeric route to at the EastLink junction at this time.
A further 20 kilometres south along Moorooduc Highway, the Mornington Peninsula Freeway recommences in a southern section until Boneo Road, Rosebud. This section of the freeway passes through vineyards, stud farms and gardens along the Mornington Peninsula.
The freeway is generally parallel to Point Nepean Road and Nepean Highway almost all the way including Moorooduc Highway, having been constructed to relieve traffic on that road.
At the northern end of the northern section, Melbourne-bound traffic may turn right along Springvale Road to access Monash Freeway or Princes Highway. Turning left follows an alternative way to the city via Nepean Highway, which in many cases is faster, due to the common traffic congestion on the Monash Freeway.
[edit] Congestion
South-eastern Melbourne is growing rapidly and traffic density is high. The proposed EastLink is touted as a solution, linking with the freeway (and hence Frankston and Mornington Peninsula) to Melbourne's comprehensive freeway network.
A persistent proposal has been to complete the freeway and connect the northern and southern sections. This is the reason for the name change half-way down the freeway's northern section, as the original Mornington Peninisula Freeway was to divert through Langwarrin, Baxter and Moorooduc, eventually rejoining as a regular interchange with the Moorooduc Highway. This proposal now looks likely to go ahead in the near future with study being currently undertaken by Seita, those under contract for EastLink. It is still indicated in Melway and other street directories although possible re-routing may occur through the Pines Flora and Fauna Reserve and to upgrade the Moorooduc Highway south of Sages Road to freeway standard.
[edit] Intended course
There are three sections of the Freeway incomplete, and at least one of them looks likely to be built in future. The northernmost of these was from the proposed Dingley Freeway in Dingley through Braeside to the current northern section's northern terminus at Springvale Road. The second is the most likely to be built in the future, the Frankston Bypass, from the large bend in the middle of the northern section where the freeway's name officially changes, and divert traffic around the east side of Frankston through Langwarrin, Baxter and Moorooduc before once again joining the current southern section's northern terminus at Moorooduc Highway. The third is unlikely ever to be built, and is basically an extension of the southern section, running in a western direction.
Where the current southern section reaches Jetty Road in Rosebud, freeway conditions end, with a two-lane, single carrageway link from Jetty Road to Boneo Road. From Jetty Road the freeway was meant to adopt full freeway standards with overpasses over Jetty Road and Boneo Road, but this section has remained incomplete for over a decade (at this stage there appears to be no plans to complete the second carriageway or interchange crossing for Jetty Road). The freeway would then bypass Rye before terminating at Melbourne Road at the intersection of Canterbury Jetty Road in Blairgowrie.
VicRoads currently has no plans to construct any of the three missing lengths of the freeway. Instead, it has upgraded Moorooduc Highway to three lanes in each direction from Frankston-Flinders Road to Cranbourne Road and has installed new traffic lights at Sages road, and a new roundabout at Eramosa Road West.
[edit] Proposals for Freeway Completion
[edit] Frankston Bypass
The construction of the Eastlink freeway and its interchange with the northern section has led to speculation of possible congestion on the Frankston Freeway, especially at the southern terminus at McMahons Road. This possible congestion would be alleviated by the construction of a missing section of the Mornington Peninsula freeway, a Frankston Bypass. Vicroads however does not anticipate such congestion on the Frankston freeway will actually occur. Federal MP Bruce Billson however, believes otherwise, and is raising this issue in the local press. As these roads are strictly a state responsibility, it remains to be seen if Mr. Billson will propose any solution or funding from a Federal level.
The Victorian minister for Transport, Peter Batchelor has stated that simply because the freeway's projected path appears on a map (referring to the route shown in the Melway), that this does not mean that the road is intended to, or will ever actually be built. City of Frankston councillors however, along with Mr. Billson, are pushing for the bypass to be built in any case.
[edit] Northern Extension
There are also calls from various lobby groups to complete the northern section of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway, from Springvale Road onwards, even if it was completed in sections, first to Governor Road etc. This would reduce the heavy traffic now seen on Wells Road through Aspendale Gardens and White Street in Mordialloc (Aspendale Gardens-Mordialloc Bypass?).
[edit] Exits and Intersections
[edit] Northern Section
Mornington Peninsula Freeway   |
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| Northbound exits | Distance from Springvale Road (km) |
Distance from Frankston Freeway (km) |
Southbound exits |
| End Mornington Peninsula Freeway continues as Springvale Road  to Melbourne |
0 | 8 | Start Mornington Peninsula Freeway from Springvale Road |
| Chelsea Heights Thames Promenade |
2 | -- | no exit |
| Patterson Lakes Thompsons Road  |
5 | 3 | Patterson Lakes Thompsons Road |
| no exit | 8 | 0 | Carrum Downs Rutherford Road |
| Start Mornington Peninsula Freeway from Frankston Freeway |
End Mornington Peninsula Freeway continues as Frankston Freeway to Frankston |
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[edit] Southern Section
| Mornington Peninsula Freeway (Dromana Freeway) |
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| Northbound exits | Distance from Moorooduc Highway (km) |
Distance from Boneo Road (km) |
Southbound exits |
| End Mornington Peninsula Freeway (Dromana Freeway) continues as Moorooduc Highway to Frankston |
0 | 19 | Start Mornington Peninsula Freeway from Moorooduc Highway |
| Mount Martha Old Moorooduc Road  |
Mount Martha Old Moorooduc Road |
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| Mount Martha Nepean Highway   |
7 | 12 | Mount Martha Nepean Highway |
| Safety Beach Nepean Highway  via Ponderosa Place |
11 | 8 | Safety Beach Nepean Highway |
| Dromana McCulloch Street  |
13 | 6 | Dromana Arthurs Seat Road |
| no exit | -- | 4 | McCrae Lonsdale Street |
| Rosebud Jetty Road |
17 | 2 | Rosebud Jetty Road |
| Start Mornington Peninsula Freeway from Boneo Road  |
19 | 0 | End Mornington Peninsula Freeway continues as Boneo Road to Flinders / Portsea |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Alpha-Numeric Route Number M11 to be introduced in 2008, Main Roads Victoria. Retrieved on February 10, 2008.
