A notoriously congested arterial road in Cranbourne will be overhauled – eradicating congestion, bringing down travel times and boosting safety.
The State Government announced on Thursday 25 October that Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road will be one of 14 key roads to be upgraded as part of a $2.2 billion project across Melbourne’s outer north and south-east.
Extra lanes will added in each direction between Thompsons Road and South Gippsland Highway to boost capacity and reduce congestion.
The existing roundabout at Berwick-Cranbourne Road will be replaced with traffic lights, with new traffic lights also to be installed on the South Gippsland Highway as well as upgrades to key intersections to improve traffic flow.
Three builders including Access Arterial, Connecting Melbourne and Netflow have been shortlisted to submit tenders under the State Government’s massive Suburban Roads Upgrade – which has been labelled the “biggest investment in suburban roads in Victoria’s history.”
The project is expected to come to fruition in the next 12-18 months,
The upgrades are being overseen by the Major Road Projects Authority – a new, dedicated authority established to deliver a pipeline of major road upgrades and projects across Melbourne and Victoria.
Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan said the Andrews Government was “getting on with delivering key upgrades to roads across Melbourne’s outer suburbs.”
“Drivers will be the big winners as we push on with delivering these key projects – and get on with delivering billions of dollars of road upgrades across Melbourne,” he said.
Cranbourne MP Jude Perera said locals knew “just how frustrating congestion” can be along Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road – “that’s why we’re duplicating the road and upgrading intersections to improve journeys and reliability through Cranbourne.”
“By upgrading Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road, we’re offering a real alternative for north-south travellers and significantly improving access to the south east’s freeway network,” Mr Perera said.
“The Liberals did an about face when it came to upgrading our local areas road arterials, Labor is getting on with it.”
The Coalition has been contacted for comment.
