Calder Freeway

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Calder Freeway



Calder Freeway facing Mt. Macedon Formerly
Length	94 km
General direction	Northwest - Southeast
From	Calder Highway, Kyneton, Victoria
Major suburbs	Kyneton, Woodend, Macedon, Gisborne, Diggers Rest, Sunbury
To	Tullamarine Freeway, Niddrie, Melbourne
Allocation	Keilor-Essendon: (duplex with )
Major Junctions	Sunshine Avenue Melton Highway Green Gully Road Keilor Park Drive Western Ring Road for full list see Exits & Interchanges

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.

1 History
2 Route
3 Calder Corridor Upgrade
- 3.1 Kyneton to Faraday section
- 3.2 Faraday To Ravenswood section
4 Exits & Interchanges
5 References
6 See also

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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[1]

[edit] Exits & Interchanges

Calder Freeway
Northbound exits / intersections	Distance from Calder Highway (km)	Distance from Tullamarine Freeway (km)	Southbound exits / intersections
End Calder Freeway continues as Calder Highway to Bendigo	0	94	Start Calder Freeway from Calder Highway
Malmsbury Malmsbury East Road	0	94	Malmsbury Malmsbury East Road
Kyneton Burton Avenue	5	89	Kyneton Burton Avenue
Kyneton Edgecombe Road	10	84	Kyneton Edgecombe Road
Kyneton Bourke Street / Trio Road	12	--	no exit
Carlsruhe Springvale Road	17	77	Carlsruhe Springvale Road
no exit	--	68	Woodend Black Forest Drive
Woodend Lancefield-Woodend Road	31	63	Woodend Lancefield-Woodend Road
BENDIGO RAIL LINE	33	61	BENDIGO RAIL LINE
Woodend Macedon-Woodend Road / Black Forest Drive	38	56	Woodend Macedon-Woodend Road / Black Forest Drive
Macedon Macedon-Woodend Road / Mount Macedon Road	43	51	Macedon Macedon-Woodend Road / Mount Macedon Road
Gisborne Station Road	45	49	Gisborne Station Road
Gisborne Melbourne Road	48	46	Gisborne Melbourne Road
Sunbury Couangalt Road / Mundy Road	53	41	Sunbury Couangalt Road / Mundy Road
Sunbury Gap Road	60	34	Sunbury Gap Road
Sunbury Vineyard Road	67	27	Sunbury Vineyard Road
BENDIGO RAIL LINE	69	25	BENDIGO RAIL LINE
Diggers Rest Bulla-Diggers Rest Road	71	23	Diggers Rest Bulla-Diggers Rest Road
Diggers Rest Holden Road	75	19
SERVICE CENTRE	75	19	SERVICE CENTRE
Calder Park Calder Park Drive	77	17	Calder Park Calder Park Drive
Taylors Lakes Robertsons Road	79	15	Taylors Lakes Robertsons Road
Keilor North Sunshine Avenue	82	12	Keilor North Sunshine Avenue
Keilor North Melton Highway	84	--	no exit
Keilor Green Gully Road	86	--	no exit
	--	5	Keilor Park Keilor Park Drive
Keilor Park Keilor Park Drive	90	4
Keilor Park Western Ring Road	90	4	Keilor Park Western Ring Road
Keilor East Woorite Place	91	--	no exit
Niddrie Keilor Road	93	1	Niddrie Fullarton Road
	94	0	Essendon Bulla Road
Start Calder Freeway from Tullamarine Freeway	94	0	End Calder Freeway continues as Tullamarine Freeway to Melbourne