The Tullamarine Freeway is an urban freeway in Melbourne, Australia, linking Melbourne Airport to the central business district.

History

Tullamarine Freeway is one of the oldest freeways in Melbourne, originally constructed in 1968-1970. It was intended to replace Lancefield Road (now Melrose Drive), Tullamarine and parts of Bulla Road, Essendon, providing easy access to the newly built Melbourne Airport. A spur was constructed to link with the Calder Highway at Airport West. From Essendon, a new section heading east to Pascoe Vale and then south along the Moonee Ponds Creek to Mt Alexander Road, Flemington replaced Mt Alexander Road as the main route to the city.

The freeway was initially designated for the whole stretch from Tullamarine to Flemington. The short Calder Highway link was designated the Calder Freeway . The freeway was originally designated in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as the F14 Freeway corridor.

With its completion, citybound heavy vehicles from Hume Highway were diverted here via Pascoe Vale Road. In the 1990s, the completion of the Western Ring Road increased traffic tremendously. It was only relieved by the completion of CityLink, widening the freeway to 8 lanes (two fo these being transit lanes) and extending it south to the West Gate Freeway. The improved sections are now tolled.

The freeway is used by Skybus Super Shuttle services to Melbourne Airport, and in 2002 the Victorian government contributed $3 million to a $10 million plan to expand and improve these services, after a feasibility study into an airport rail link found the number of passengers using a train would not make the scheme economically viable.

The Calder Freeway interchange was completed earlier than expected in mid 2007, which underwent dramatic roadworks to alleviate congestion. All works are now complete, with the end result being the decommissioning and removal of two offramps, an additional two lanes inbound, and dedicated Bulla Road-Calder Freeway spurs to eliminate weaving, notorious for many accidents in the area.

Another project now completed is a new bridge and northern entrance to the Essendon Airport through the interchange of Melrose Drive, to provide easy access for the people living in the northern suburbs to access the Essendon Airport district.

Although, initially proposed the route shield for the Tullamarine Freeway will be retained as State Route 43 and will not be changed to the M2. There are no plans for the change in route numbering at this stage.

Route

Today the official start of the freeway is at Pascoe Vale Road, as the original southern sections was upgraded in the late 1990s as part of CityLink. Here it is a three lane, high quality dual carriageway, running along the south side of Essendon Airport and the Direct Factory Outlets shopping complex, the former main airport of Melbourne. At the Calder Freeway interchange, staying to the right will lead you to the next section of the Tullamarine Freeway.

The next section is quite narrow, with two lanes running either way and a concrete barrier (later grass and shrubbery) in the middle of the road. Melrose Drive runs alongside its airport-bound side. This section is frequently congested due to the combination of freight traffic from the Hume Highway, which is accessed from the Western Ring Road interchange, and the traffic from the airport. After the ring road interchange, the traffic is slightly better, leading to the Melbourne Airport off ramp, after which the freeway ends.

Exits and intersections

References

See also

• Freeways in Australia
• Freeways in Melbourne
• Road transport in Victoria

External links

• TullaCalder Project Website
• Map Of Works at Calder Interchange