Geelong Ring Road

Geelong Ring Road under construction at Bell Post Hill.

The Geelong Ring Road (formerly known as the Geelong Bypass) is a freeway ring road under construction. The ring road will extend for 25 km beside Geelong's western suburbs from the Princes Freeway at Corio to the Princes Highway at Waurn Ponds. The road will also connect to the Midland Highway to Ballarat, and the Hamilton Highway. Proposals for a road along this route date back to the 1960s.

History

Map detailing the planned route of the Geelong Ring Road (green dotted line).

One of the first plans for a ring road of Geelong dates back to March 7, 1969, when a report was released by the the Barwon Regional Commission. It said that the ring road could be delayed for up to 15 years.

In 1972 saw a number of proposals made, one for a freeway though Geelong West, and another for Aberdeen Street to be upgraded into a major road with the acquisition of 99 houses. Both of these proposals were dropped after residents objections.

1979 saw a Melbourne firm carry out acoustic testing at Wandana Heights to test the impact of a freeway. The alignment was finalised in 1979 and appeared as a proposed freeway in the Melway street directory for a number of years.

Growing traffic lead to Latrobe Terrace being upgraded into a major highway in the early 1980s, along with the construction of the James Harrison Bridge.

Today

The project was renamed the Geelong Ring Road on February 20, 2007.

Geelong Ring Road crossing of the Moorabool River under construction at Fyansford.

Geelong Ring Road crossing of the Moorabool River under construction at Fyansford.

Construction on the Geelong Ring Road began in early 2006 with the freeway section to Waurn Ponds scheduled for completion in 2009. A total of $384 million from the Victorian and Australian Governments has been committed to fund the project.

The freeway is to be constructed in four sections as follows, 3 under construction:

• Section 1: Princes Freeway, Corio to Midland Highway, Bell Post Hill (section under construction)
• Section 2: Midland Highway, Hamlyn Heights to Hamilton Highway, Fyansford (section under construction)
• Section 3: Hamilton Highway, Fyansford to Princes Highway, Waurn Ponds (section under construction)

There was much local debate on the proposed route for Section 3. The final decision was made on 7 July 2006, while construction commenced in September, 2007 Costello, Brumby launch Geelong road stage.

• Stage 4: (in planning) not part of AusLink. The Victorian Government has also committed 50% of the funding for Section 4, to extend the Ring Road over the existing Princes Highway and duplicate Anglesea Road to Hams Road Peter Costello pledges $80m.

External links

• Section 1
• Section 2
• Section 3
• VicRoads Geelong Ring Road Project information
• WestConnect

References

• Peter Begg (1990). Geelong - The First 150 Years. Globe Press. ISBN 0-9592863-5-7