Mornington Peninsula Freeway

Mornington Peninsula Freeway
Proposed _to_replace_ to replace Southern section formerly
Length	27 km (17 mi)
Direction	North-South
From	Springvale Road, Chelsea Heights, Melbourne
Major suburbs	Patterson Lakes, Seaford, Frankston, Moorooduc, Tuerong, Dromana, McCrae
To	Boneo Road, Rosebud, Victoria
Allocation	Mount Martha - Safety Beach: (duplex with )
Major junctions	Northern section Thompsons Road EastLink Southern section Nepean Highway Nepean Highway Arthurs Seat Road for full list see Exits and intersections

See also: Frankston Freeway and Moorooduc Highway

Mornington Peninsula Freeway (Peninsula Link) is an incomplete freeway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that provides a link from outer suburban Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula.

History

The freeway was originally designated in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan as the F6 Freeway corridor. In the early 1960s the Frankston Freeway was known as the Wells Road Bypass. The Wells Road Bypass was an undivided highway between Frankston-Cranbourne Road and Seaford Road. It then continued on to Mordialloc as Wells Road.

The Wells Road Bypass was upgraded to freeway standard in the early 1970s and on 17 March 1980 the section of freeway from Springvale Road Keysborough to Seaford opened alongside the existing Wells Road. At the time it was planned that the rest of the freeway be completed from Springvale Road onwards but a change of Government in 1982 saw a change in policy. The new policy was to duplicate Wells Rd through Aspendale Gardens and Boundary Rd through Braeside. The Southern section of freeway known as the Mornington Peninsula Freeway (or Dromana Freeway) between Nepean Highway at Dromana and Jetty Road at Rosebud South was completed in 1975. The freeway between Dromana and Moorooduc South linking to Moorooduc Highway was completed in the mid 1990s.

Route

The Mornington Peninsula Freeway is incomplete, and has been for decades (VicRoads having decided that traffic on the route was not heavy enough to merit a Frankston Bypass, the middle section of the freeway), and at this stage, there are actually two freeways, a northern section and a southern section, linked by a divided highway.

Its northern section links Springvale Road just outside Edithvale to the Moorooduc Highway in Frankston. It is signed with a shield, including the Moorooduc Highway. It changes names to become the Frankston Freeway in Carrum Downs south until Cranbourne-Frankston Road, as the incomplete section of the actual Mornington Peninsula Freeway, which bypasses Frankston, swings off to the south east.

A further 20 kilometres south along Moorooduc Highway, the Mornington Peninsula Freeway recommences in a southern section until Boneo Road, Rosebud. This section of the freeway passes through vineyards, stud farms and gardens along the Mornington Peninsula.

The freeway is generally parallel to Point Nepean Road and Nepean Highway almost all the way including Moorooduc Highway, having been constructed to relieve traffic on that road.

At the northern end of the northern section, Melbourne-bound traffic may turn right along Springvale Road to access Monash Freeway or Princes Highway. Turning left follows an alternative way to the city via Nepean Highway, which in many cases is faster, due to the common traffic congestion on the Monash Freeway.

VicRoads does have a plan to change the route sign to _but_there_is_no_clear_commitment_as_to_when_this_change_will_take_place.[citation_needed]_It_was_changed_to__for_a_short_time_just_before_EastLink_opened_then_it_was_reverted_back_to_ but there is no clear commitment as to when this change will take place.^{[citation needed]} It was changed to _for_a_short_time_just_before_EastLink_opened_then_it_was_reverted_back_to_ for a short time just before EastLink opened then it was reverted back to [1]. However, it looks more likely that with the completion of the Peninsula Link, the route will indeed change to

New road signs have been erected on Wells Road and Springvale Road on the approach to the Freeway. These road signs are lane directional signs that designate right lanes for the _Frankston_Freeway._Correspondence_from_VicRoads_indicate_that_this_is_correct[citation_needed]._In_July_2011_the__markings_on_these_signs_were_again_covered_over_with_ Frankston Freeway. Correspondence from VicRoads indicate that this is correct^{[citation needed]}. In July 2011 the _markings_on_these_signs_were_again_covered_over_with_ markings on these signs were again covered over with .

Congestion

South-eastern Melbourne is growing rapidly and traffic density is high. The proposed EastLink is touted as a solution, linking with the freeway (and hence Frankston and Mornington Peninsula) to Melbourne's comprehensive freeway network.

A persistent proposal has been to complete the freeway and connect the northern and southern sections. This is the reason for the name change half-way down the freeway's northern section, as the original Mornington Peninisula Freeway was to divert through Langwarrin, Baxter and Moorooduc, eventually rejoining as a regular interchange with the Moorooduc Highway. Recently, this proposal was given approval by the Victorian Government, and work has commenced.

Intended course

There are three sections of the Freeway incomplete. The northernmost of these was from the proposed Dingley Freeway in Dingley through Braeside to the current northern section's northern terminus at Springvale Road. The second is the Frankston Bypass, which is currently under construction. This section commences at the large bend in the middle of the northern section where the freeway's name officially changes, and will divert traffic around the east side of Frankston through Langwarrin, Baxter and Moorooduc before once again joining the current southern section's northern terminus at Moorooduc Highway. The third is basically an extension of the southern section with land reserved until the termination at Melbourne Rd.

Where the current southern section reaches Jetty Road in Rosebud, freeway conditions end, with a two-lane, single carrageway link from Jetty Road to Boneo Road. From Jetty Road the freeway was meant to adopt full freeway standards with overpasses over Jetty Road and Boneo Road, but this section has remained incomplete for over a decade (at this stage there appears to be no plans to complete the second carriageway or interchange crossing for Jetty Road). The freeway would then bypass Rye before terminating at Melbourne Road at the intersection of Canterbury Jetty Road in Blairgowrie.

Proposals for freeway completion

Frankston bypass

Main article: Peninsula Link

The construction of the Eastlink freeway and its interchange with the northern section has led to speculation of possible congestion on the Frankston Freeway, especially at the southern terminus at McMahons Road. This possible congestion would be alleviated by the construction of a missing section of the Mornington Peninsula freeway, a Frankston Bypass. Vicroads however does not anticipate such congestion on the Frankston Freeway will actually occur. Federal MP Bruce Billson however, believed otherwise, and raising this issue in the local press as these roads are strictly a state responsibility.

The Victorian minister for Transport, Peter Batchelor, stated^{[citation needed]} that simply because the freeway's projected path appears on a map (referring to the route shown in the Melway), that this does not mean that the road is intended to, or will ever actually be built. City of Frankston councillors however, along with Mr. Billson, pushed for the bypass to be built in any case.

Since that time, and the recent State Election, the Bypass was given approval, and construction has begun.

Northern extension

There are also calls from various lobby groups to complete the northern section of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway, approx. 5 km from Springvale Road to Centre Dandenong Rd and from Centre Dandenong Rd it would join the proposed Dingley Freeway. This would reduce the heavy traffic now seen on Wells Road through Aspendale Gardens and White Street in Mordialloc (Aspendale Gardens-Mordialloc Bypass?).[2]

Exits and intersections

Northern section

Mornington Peninsula Freeway
Northbound exits	Distance to Melbourne (km)	Distance to Frankston (km)	Southbound exits
Traffic Lights (clockwise from freeway) Springvale Road to Edithvale and Melbourne via Nepean Highway Springvale Road to Springvale and Melbourne via Monash Freeway
End Mornington Peninsula Freeway	31	13	Start Mornington Peninsula Freeway
Chelsea, Bangholme Thames Promenade	33	11	no exit
Carrum, Cranbourne Thompsons Road	36	8	Cranbourne, Carrum Thompsons Road
Start Mornington Peninsula Freeway from Frankston Freeway	39	5	Flinders, Portsea Peninsula Link Under Construction
			Carrum Downs, To via Melbourne Rutherford Road
			End Mornington Peninsula Freeway continues as Frankston Freeway to Frankston

Southern section

Mornington Peninsula Freeway (Dromana Freeway)
Northbound exits / intersections	Distance to Melbourne (km)	Distance to Portsea (km)	Southbound exits / intersections
End Mornington Peninsula Freeway continues as Moorooduc Highway to Frankston	72	41	Start Mornington Peninsula Freeway from Moorooduc Highway
Balnarring, Somers Old Moorooduc Road _
Melbourne Peninsula Link Under Construction
continues as	79	34	Red Hill, Mornington Nepean Highway
Mornington, Red Hill Nepean Highway			duplexes with
duplexes with	84	29	Red Hill, Safety Beach Nepean Highway
Safety Beach, Red Hill Nepean Highway via Ponderosa Place			continues as
Dromana, Arthurs Seat McCulloch Street	86	27	Arthurs Seat, Dromana Arthurs Seat Road
no exit	88	25	McCrae Lonsdale Street
Start Freeway	90	23	End Freeway
Rosebud, Main Ridge Jetty Road			Main Ridge, Rosebud Jetty Road
Start Mornington Peninsula Freeway	92	21	End Mornington Peninsula Freeway
Roundabout (clockwise from freeway) Boneo Road to Flinders Boneo Road to Rosebud and Portsea

See also

• Freeways in Australia
• Freeways in Melbourne
• Road transport in Victoria
• list of Freeways length

References