Calder Freeway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Calder Freeway Victoria


Calder Freeway facing Mount Macedon
General information
Type	Freeway
Length	113 km (70 mi)
Route number(s)	M79 Entire length Duplexes: A300 (Ravenswood South - Harcourt) Metro Route 40 (Keilor - Niddrie)
Former route number	National Route 79 (? - 1998) Gisborne Bypass; Diggers Rest - Niddrie^[1] F90 (1975-1989) Keilor - Niddrie^[2]
Major junctions
NW end	Calder Highway Ravenswood South, Victoria
	Midland Highway Pyrenees Highway Melton Highway Western Ring Road for full list see exits and interchanges
SE end	Tullamarine Freeway Niddrie, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbs / towns	Harcourt, Malmsbury, Kyneton, Woodend, Macedon, Gisborne, Diggers Rest, Sunbury

Calder Freeway is a freeway linking Melbourne to Ravenswood South in Victoria, Australia, superseding stretches of the Calder Highway. Originally just a short spur of the Tullamarine Freeway linking to the Calder Highway in Keilor in suburban Melbourne, it has been extended in phases to Ravenswood South subsuming all the older Calder Highway stretches. It continues beyond as Calder Highway through to Bendigo and to Mildura. The Victorian Government completed the duplication of the Calder Highway from Melbourne to Bendigo to Freeway conditions on 20 April 2009, several months earlier than expected.

History

The Calder Highway was named after William Calder, who was chairman of the Country Roads Board (Victoria) from 1913 to 1928. The CRB later became the Victorian Road Construction Authority and today known as VicRoads.

The highway was originally allocated a National Route 79 shield. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s this was altered to a A79 designation for the majority highway portion, and a M79 designation for the remaining freeway portion into Melbourne.

Originally, the Calder Highway (an undivided highway) started at the end of Keilor Road in Niddrie. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the road was upgraded to freeway standard together with the Tullamarine Freeway, ending in Keilor East and rejoining the Calder Highway. By the early 1980s the Freeway was extended to Keilor and then rejoined the Calder Highway. However, it was not until the 1990s that work began to duplicate the rest of the highway to Bendigo.

The Calder Highway between the Melton Highway and the Western Ring Road is shown in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as part of the F4 Freeway corridor, which extends past the Tullamarine Freeway and Bell Street to Templestowe.

Route

At Ravenswood South, the Calder Highway, becomes the Calder Freeway, adopting freeway standards, with two lanes running either way (three inside Melbourne) and begins bypassing most of the towns the old alignment of the highway used to serve.

The north-western end of the freeway is also duplexed with the A300 until south of Harcourt where the highway resumes south-westerly to the major regional centres of Castlemaine, Ballarat, and Geelong.

Towns bypassed by, but still accessible from, the Calder Freeway include:

It gains the Metro Route 40 shield at the Green Gully Road interchange in Keilor, which continues east onto the Tullamarine Freeway city-bound.

The freeway ends at the newly reconstructed interchange with the Tullamarine Freeway, the main route from the central business district to Melbourne Airport. Continuing on the Tullamarine Freeway eventually brings drivers onto CityLink, and thus, central Melbourne.

Within the urban section of the Calder Freeway (between Sunhine Avenue and the Tullamarine Freeway), the standard travel time, in each direction, is 7 minutes. (4 minutes between the Melton Highway and the Western Ring Road and 3 minutes between the Western Ring Road and the Tullamarine Freeway.

The usual peak period travel time, is between 9-13 minutes. However, when there is extreme congestion or roadworks, including being residual from an incident, the travel time can go beyond 13 minutes, sometimes upwards of 20 minutes plus.

Upgrades

Calder Highway / Calder Alternative Route intersection

Proposed upgrade of the intersection of the Calder Highway and Calder Alternate Route at Ravenswood, to be funded by Auslink 2 (2009–2014).
A recent news article reports that if either the Liberal Party of Australia or Australian Labor Party were to win the 2013 Federal Election that $86 million would be committed for an overpass at the intersection, which has been known for serious crashes in the past.^[3]

Western Ring Road to Melton Highway

VicRoads has completed the widening of the Calder Freeway from the Western Ring Road to Melton Highway. The road was widened from 2 lanes each direction to 3 lanes in each direction. As a result the speed limit is reduced permanently from 100 km/h to 80 km/h. .^[4] Confusingly the 80 km/hr limit applies northbound from Keilor Park Drive until the Service Centre at Calder Park, whereas southbound it applies from the Green Gully Road bridge to just prior to the Western Ring Road interchange. In October 2010, it was announced that as part of a year long trial, the speed limit on this section of freeway will be increased back to 100 km/h in off-peak times (8pm-5am), with 30 variable speed limits to be installed along the stretch of freeway.

Proposed safety and capacity improvements, to funded by Auslink 2 (2009–2014) .

Exits and Interchanges

Calder Freeway
Northbound exits / intersections	Distance to Bendigo (km)	Distance to Melbourne (km)	Southbound exits / intersections
End Calder Freeway continues as Calder Highway to Bendigo	25	126	Start Calder Freeway from Calder Highway
Maldon Fogartys Gap Road Harcourt Old Calder Highway	25	126	Start Calder Freeway from Calder Highway
continues as	31	120	Harcourt, Castlemaine, Ballarat Midland Highway
Castlemaine, Harcourt Midland Highway	31	120	continues as
Castlemaine, Metcalfe Pyrenees Highway	43	108	Metcalfe, Castlemaine Pyrenees Highway
Malmsbury, Taradale, Elphinstone Old Calder Highway Edgecombe Malmsbury East Road	57	94	Edgecombe Malmsbury East Road Malmsbury Old Calder Highway
Kyneton Burton Avenue	61	90	Kyneton Burton Avenue
Kyneton, Heathcote Edgecombe Road	66	85	Heathcote, Kyneton Edgecombe Road
Kyneton Bourke Street Trio Road	68	83	no exit
Carlsruhe Springvale Road	73	78	Carlsruhe Springvale Road
no exit	77	74	Woodend Macedon-Woodend Road
Woodend, Lancefield Lancefield-Woodend Road	82	69	Lancefield, Woodend Lancefield-Woodend Road
Woodend, Macedon Macedon-Woodend Road	89	62	Macedon, Woodend Macedon-Woodend Road
Macedon Macedon-Woodend Road Mount Macedon Mount Macedon Road	95	56	no exit
Gisborne, Bacchus Marsh Station Road Riddells Creek Station Road	97	54	Riddells Creek Station Road Gisborne, Bacchus Marsh, Melton Station Road
Gisborne Melbourne Road Emmeline Drive	100	51	Emmeline Drive Gisborne Melbourne Road
Couangalt Road Mundy Road	106	45	Mundy Road Couangalt Road
Sunbury Gap Road	111	40	Sunbury Gap Road
Diggers Rest, Sunbury Vineyard Road	116	35	Sunbury, Diggers Rest Vineyard Road
Diggers Rest, Bulla Bulla-Diggers Rest Road	119.5	31.5	Bulla, Diggers Rest Bulla-Diggers Rest Road
Toolern Vale Holden Road	123	28	BP SERVICE CENTRE
	123	28	BP SERVICE CENTRE
BP SERVICE CENTRE
Calder Park Calder Park Drive	125.5	25.5	Calder Park Calder Park Drive
Taylors Lakes Kings Road	127.3	23.7	Taylors Lakes, Deer Park, Laverton Kings Road
Taylors Lakes, Melton Melton Highway	130.2	20.8	no exit
continues as	132.4	18.6	no exit
Keilor, St Albans Green Gully Road	132.4	18.6	continues as
no exit	134.1	16.9	Keilor Park, Avondale Heights To Geelong Keilor Park Drive
Keilor, Keilor Park Keilor Park Drive	135.5	15.5	Seymour, Sydney Western Ring Road
Geelong, Ballarat, Adelaide Western Ring Road	135.5	15.5	Seymour, Sydney Western Ring Road
Keilor East, Airport West Woorite Place	136.5	14.5	no exit
Niddrie Keilor Road	137.5	13.5	Niddrie McNamara Avenue Fullarton Road
Start Calder Freeway from Tullamarine Freeway	138	13	Essendon Bulla Road
Start Calder Freeway from Tullamarine Freeway	138	13	End Calder Freeway continues as Tullamarine Freeway to Melbourne

Sources

Calder Freeway on Whereis.

References

↑ National Routes, Main Roads Victoria. Retrieved on 26 August 2013.
↑ Freeway Route Numbering System, Main Roads Victoria. Retrieved on 26 August 2013.
↑ Parties commit to Calder intersection safety fix ABC News. Retrieved on 26 August 2013.
↑ Gardiner, Ashley (12 June 2008). "Freeway slowdown to ease traffic jams in Melbourne". Herald Sun. Retrieved 2008-07-01.

v t e Road infrastructure in Melbourne

Tollways	CityLink (Transurban) EastLink (ConnectEast)

Freeways	Airport Drive Calder Freeway Eastern Freeway Frankston Freeway Hume Freeway Metropolitan Ring Road Monash Freeway Mornington Peninsula Freeway Peninsula Link Princes Freeway South Gippsland Freeway Tullamarine Freeway West Gate Freeway Western Freeway Western Ring Road

Highways	Ballarat Road Bell Street Bulleen Road Burwood Highway Chandler Highway Dandenong Road Dandenong Valley Highway Eastern Highway Flemington Road Geelong Road Greensborough Highway Hoddle Highway Maroondah Highway Melton Highway Moorooduc Highway Mountain Highway Nepean Highway Plenty Valley Highway Springvale Road St Kilda Road Sydney Road Warrigal Road Westall Road Western Port Highway Whitehorse Road

Bypasses	Dandenong Bypass Ringwood Bypass Westall Road (Springvale Bypass)

Bridges and tunnels	Bolte Bridge Burnley Tunnel Domain Tunnel Melba Tunnel Mullum Mullum Tunnel West Gate Bridge

Proposals	1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan East West Link Outer Ring Road Dingley Arterial Healesville Freeway Koo Wee Rup Bypass Mornington Peninsula Freeway North East Link

Streets in Melbourne Highways in Melbourne VicRoads Transport in Melbourne

v t e Road infrastructure in Victoria

Freeways	Calder Freeway Goulburn Valley Freeway Hume Freeway Princes Freeway (Geelong Ring Road) Western Freeway

Highways	Bass Highway Bellarine Highway Borung Highway Calder Highway Glenelg Highway Goulburn Valley Highway Hamilton Highway Henty Highway Hopkins Highway Kiewa Valley Highway Loddon Valley Highway Mallee Highway Maroondah Highway Melba Highway Midland Highway Monaro Highway Murray Valley Highway Nepean Highway Northern Highway Omeo Highway Princes Highway Pyrenees Highway South Gippsland Highway Strzelecki Highway Sturt Highway Sunraysia Highway Surf Coast Highway Warburton Highway Western Highway Western Port Highway Wimmera Highway

Bypass routes	Old Hume Highway Old Princes Highway Princes Highway (Geelong)

Tourist routes	Great Alpine Road Great Ocean Road Murray Valley Highway Phillip Island Road

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.