Calder Freeway Totally Explained

Everything about Calder Freeway totally explained

Calder Freeway is a freeway linking Melbourne to Kyneton 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 Kyneton subsuming all the older Calder highway stretches. It continues beyond as Calder Highway through to Bendigo and to Mildura. The Victorian Government hopes to complete the duplication of the Calder Highway from Melbourne to Bendigo by the end of 2009.

History

The Calder Highway was named after William Calder, who was chairman of the Victorian road construction authority formerly known as the Country Roads Board from 1913 to 1928. The CRB is 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 designation for the majority highway portion, and a designation for the remaining freeway portion into Melbourne.
Originally, the Calder Highway (an undivided highway) started at the end of Keilor Rd in Niddrie. In the late 1960' early 1970s it 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. It wasn't until the 1990s that that work began to duplicate the rest of the highway to Bendigo.

Route

Just north-west of Kyneton, 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. Former bypassed sections of the Calder Highway are generally designated sequentially from C791 to C794, or (oddly enough) still keep the old shield (within suburban Melbourne).
Towns bypassed by, but still accessible from, the from this point include:

It gains the shield at the Green Gully Road interchange in Keilor, which continues east onto the Tullamarine Freeway city-bound, along with the old shield.
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.

Calder Corridor Upgrade

The upgrade of the Calder Highway is a jointly funded project between the Australian and Victorian Government's at an estimated total cost of $404 million. Between Melbourne and Bendigo, the highway has been upgraded to a high standard four lane divided road for all but 34 km between Malmsbury and Ravenswood, where it reverts to a two lane highway. Construction commenced on upgrading the remaining 34 km in 2005 and will be completed by early 2009.
The Calder Highway Upgrade between Kyneton and Ravenswood will be delivered in two sections: Kyneton to Faraday and Faraday to Ravenswood. Construction on both sections is well underway with construction to be completed by early 2009.

Kyneton to Faraday section

Malmsbury Stage Start Date: 24 November 2005,
   Completion Date: Forecast early 2009,
   Contractor: FRH Group Pty Ltd,
   Contract Cost: $153.3 million,
   Location: South of Malmsbury East Road to Golden Point Road, Faraday,
   Length: 21.2 km Kyneton North Stage Duplication of the Calder Highway from Wards Lane, Kyneton to Malmsbury East Rd, Malmsbury was opened to the public in January 2005. Elphinstone Rail Bridge
   The contract for construction of the bridge over the Melbourne to Bendigo Railway was completed in February 2006 by Cut and Fill Pty Ltd. Access to the bridge is now open to traffic now that the Malmsbury Stage is completed. Malmsbury stage opening The Malmsbury stage of the freeway is 12 months ahead of schedule, and 15km of the stage was opened in April, 2008 in conjunction with the Pyrenees highway connection. This will extend freeway conditions from just south of Malmsbury to the Pyrenees highway interchange near Elphinstone. The intersection of the existing calder highway and Pyrenees highway connection will be traffic light controlled to separate traffic going to Castlemaine and Bendigo.

Faraday To Ravenswood section

Harcourt South Stage
   Start Date: 18 October 2006,
   Completion Date: Forecast early 2009,
   Contractor: Winslow Constructors Pty Ltd, Contract Cost: $71.7 million,
   Location: Golden Point Road, Faraday to the Midland Highway, Harcourt,
   Length: 6.6 km Harcourt North Stage
   Start Date: 1 August 2006, Completion Date: Forecast early 2009,
   Contractor: Thiess Pty Ltd,
   Contract Cost: $52.8 million, Location: The Midland Highway, Harcourt to Fogarty's Gap Road, Ravenswood,
   Length: 6.3 km Ravenswood Stage
   The 6.2 km Ravenswood Stage opened to traffic in May 2005, it runs from Fogartys Gap Road reconnecting with the Calder Highway south of Ravenswood. Key features include 1 bridge, 7 wildlife crossings and a fully equipped rest area for trucks, buses and cars.
   For more information visit the VicRoads website(External Link

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Interchanges

The suburban section of the officially begins just outside the Calder Park Raceway but still uses highway-style at-grade intersections until Keilor, where it adopts full separated-grade interchanges, bridges and ramps. Metropolitan Interchanges are listed below.

Calder Park Drive, Calder Park: at-grade intersection

Robertsons Road, Taylors Lakes: at-grade intersection

Sunshine Avenue, Keilor North: at-grade intersection

Melton Highway, Keilor North: city-bound only

Green Gully Road, Keilor: city-bound only

Keilor Park Drive, Keilor Park: bi-directional

Western Ring Road, Keilor Park: out-bound only (limited)

Woorite Place, Keilor East: city-bound only

Keilor Road/Fullarton Road, Niddrie: bi-directional

Bulla Road, Essendon: bi-directional

Tullamarine Freeway , Essendon (City-Bound Only) Regional Interchanges are listed below.

Holden Road, Diggers Rest/Calder Park Service Centre (both north and south): outbound only

Bulla-Diggers Rest Road, Diggers Rest: bi-directional

Vineyard Road (C706), Diggers Rest/Sunbury: bi-directional

Gap Road (C707), Diggers Rest/Sunbury: bi-directional

Couangalt Road/Mundy Road, Sunbury/Gisborne South: bi-directional

Melbourne Road (C791), Gisborne: bi-directional

Station Road (C705)/(C708), Gisborne: bi-directional

Macedon-Woodend Road (C792), Macedon: bi-directional

Macedon-Woodend Road/Black Forest Drive (C792), Woodend: bi-directional

Lancefield-Woodend Road (C324), Woodend: bi-directional

Black Forest Drive (C792), Woodend: north-bound only

Springvale Road, Carlsruhe: bi-directional

Bourke Street/Trio Road (C793), Kyneton: city-bound only

Edgecombe Road (C326), Kyneton: bi-directional

Burton Avenue (C793), Kyneton: at-grade intersection

Malmsbury East Road, Malmsbury: bi-directionalFurther Information

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