Summer holiday road users will get to their seaside destinations sooner and safer with the new Mordialloc Freeway to be completed well ahead of schedule and open in time for summer holidays.
The new freeway is 90 per cent complete with only about 75,000 hours of major works to go until the official opening at the end of spring.
The Mordialloc Freeway will save motorists more than seven minutes in the morning peak and 10 minutes in the evening between Dingley Bypass and Springvale Road. Six freeway bridges have been built over Springvale, Governor, Lower Dandenong, Old Dandenong, Centre Dandenong Roads and the Waterways wetlands.
All 252 beams for the new freeway were manufactured locally in Victoria — helping to boost the 50,000 jobs in construction, manufacturing and supply being created by Victoria’s Big Build.
A workforce of more than 400 has been employed on the project since construction began in 2019, recording more than 1 million hours of work, including the laying of more than 55,000 tonnes of asphalt.
The Mordialloc Freeway is a standout example of sustainable materials in action, with the project using around 800,000 tonnes of recycled and reused materials. This includes the world’s first recycled plastic noise walls, which have bolstered the project’s reputation as Australia’s greenest freeway.
Almost 10,000 noise wall panels were made with 570 tonnes of plastic waste. Half of this is hard plastics from kerbside recycling, such as milk and shampoo bottles, and the other is soft plastics like food packaging.
Recycled plastic was also used in drainage pipes and to reinforce concrete on shared walking and cycling paths. The project also includes recycled glass in asphalt, recycled concrete in road base, reclaimed asphalt pavement and landscaping mulch made of pine pallets.
Finishing touches will see about 15 kilometres of safety barriers added, while shared walking and cycling paths will be more than 8km in length and at least three metres wide.
The $523 million Mordialloc Freeway has been funded by the Victorian Government and delivered by Major Road Projects Victoria.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan
“The Mordialloc Freeway will transform the way people move around the south east – saving people time and getting thousands of trucks off our local roads.”
“To get the job done early, well and truly in time for the summer holidays is a great credit to the many hundreds of Victorians who have been working to deliver traffic relief to Melbourne’s growing south east.”
Quote attributable to Member for Mordialloc Tim Richardson
“Melbourne’s newest freeway is a fantastic example of how we can cut travel times, increase capacity on the road network and build in new, innovative and more sustainable ways.”
Quote attributable to Member for Keysborough Martin Pakula
“The Mordialloc Freeway will deliver huge benefits to thousands of drivers in Melbourne’s south east.”
Reviewed 11 September 2021