Major works to cause traffic chaos in Melbourne’s west
More traffic pain is on the way for Melbourne’s west less than a month after major works caused major delays on the West Gate Bridge.
Victoria
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The pain for summer commuters continues with a new round of road and lane closures and lower speed limits set to hit the West Gate Freeway.
The latest works, linked to the West Gate Tunnel project, will close a number of lanes on the West Gate Freeway, Footscray Rd and impact Hyde St.
The West Gate Freeway will lose a single westbound lane — outbound from the city — while the Williamstown Rd westbound entry ramp will be fully closed.
The closures come into effect from 9pm Wednesday and are set to run to 5am, February 27, as part of works to widen the West Gate Freeway from eight to 12 lanes.
Works include rebuilding the entry ramp, as well as other infrastructure, including drainage, barriers, walking and cycling path works and signal installation.
Drivers using the Williamstown Rd interchange to travel westbound on the West Gate Freeway will need to access the freeway via an alternative route, such as Millers Rd or Geelong Rd.
The speed limit will also be reduced to 60km/h for motorists travelling out of the city from the West Gate Bridge.
🚨 24/7 full closure of Williamstown Rd westbound entry ramp & Footscray Rd citybound carriageway from 11 January. Visit Victoria’s Big Build for more info & detour routes: https://t.co/BbowLF9xitpic.twitter.com/tt4iWmfOkB
— West Gate Tunnel (@WestGateTunnel) January 9, 2023
The government is advising the closures will add an extra 20 minutes to travel times.
Footscray Rd heading towards the city will be closed in full between Dock Link Rd and Appleton Dock Rd from 8pm on Wednesday until April.
Motorists heading to the city can detour via Dynon Rd while motorists heading westbound can continue to use Footscray Rd.
The closure is expected to add an extra 15 minutes to travel times.
Hyde St will be reduced to one lane at Simcock Ave and temporary traffic lights installed to let traffic through while the intersection is rebuilt.
Those works will start on Thursday and run until mid-March.
Last month, Treasurer Tim Pallas was forced to apologise to motorists caught up in delays of up to three hours on the West Gate Bridge after a Google Maps bungle caused drivers to be directed there despite the route being closed.
Four outbound lanes were closed for about a week from 9pm on Boxing Day.
Authorities were forced to concede they had underestimated the impact of lane closures on the key corridor, which became twice as bad as the 90 minutes they had anticipated.
Motorists travelling during the worst of the gridlock said it took them about an hour to travel 2km.
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