Geelong Ring Road
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. [1] 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.[2]
History
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.[3]
Today
The project was renamed the Geelong Ring Road on February 20, 2007. [4]
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) [5]
- Section 2: Midland Highway, Hamlyn Heights to Hamilton Highway, Fyansford (section under construction) [6]
- Section 3: Hamilton Highway, Fyansford to Princes Highway, Waurn Ponds (section under construction) [7]
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. [8]
- 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
References
- Peter Begg (1990). Geelong - The First 150 Years. Globe Press. ISBN 0-9592863-5-7
Footnotes
- ^ VicRoads - Geelong Ring Road route map
- ^ Begg, Peter (1990). Geelong - The First 150 Years. Globe Press. ISBN 0-9592863-5-7.
- ^ "Rail Geelong: Latrobe Terrace". Retrieved 2007-07-01.
- ^ VicRoads - Geelong Bypass Renamed Geelong Ring Road
- ^ VicRoads - Section 1 map
- ^ VicRoads - Section 2 map
- ^ VicRoads - Section 3 map
- ^ VicRoads - Section 3 Facts