By Ethan Benedicto
Construction for the long-awaited Clyde Road upgrades has begun, after an official announcement on the morning of Friday 13 December.
The intersection, offramps, and bridge over the Princes Freeways were attended to by Bruce MP Julian Hill and Major Road Project Victoria representatives for the declaration.
Hill said for those who live or “move around the area regularly, this intersection has been a growing nightmare for a very long time”.
“It’s the north-south chokepoint, the congestion point that limits people’s movements for kilometres either way.
This project comes after the City of Casey welcomed the outcome of the Federal Government’s 90-day review in 2023 of the Infrastructure Investment Program which recommended $250 million for the construction.
As an overview, the bridge over the freeway will be widened to include two additional main road lanes – with longer turning lanes – additional offramp lanes, and upgrades to the walking and cycling paths in the area.
“This is one hundred per cent a Federally-funded project, a really complex project that is going to take two or three years but it’s going to make an enormous difference then for decades to come,” Hill said.
The infrastructure, regional development and local government minister, Catherine King, said that these upgrades “will relieve bottlenecks, improve traffic flow, and make journeys easier, safer and more reliable”.
“The upgrade will provide more reliable travel times along Clyde Road in the Berwick area, improve traffic flow and access to local facilities and streets, and reduce the risk of crashes,” she said.
The intersection at Kangan Drive will also be upgraded, with new street lights, road signage, drainage and landscaping.
Clyde Road itself serves as a vital link between the northern suburb of Berwick, with its two hospitals, university, schools and train station, to its southern neighbours of Clyde, Clyde North, Cranbourne, Cranbourne North and Cranbourne East.
Over the last few years, these latter suburbs have seen exponential growth, which in turn has led to higher vehicle ownership and presence on local roads, therefore creating a greater demand on the transport network.
“This is particularly important considering the projected growth at Federation University, Chisholm TAFE, St John of God Hospital and all the other major community facilities,” Hill said.
MRPV Program Director Brendan Pauwels was also present during the announcement and took Minister Hill through the key project areas.
“With site establishment and early works wrapping up, we’re well placed to get stuck into major works on the Clyde Road Upgrade in early 2025,” Pauwels said.
In the meantime, this area will be experiencing some disruptions, starting with the Clyde Road exit ramps at Princes Freeway Warragul-Bound and Princes Freeway Citybound.
Both will be closed from Sunday 15 December until Monday 16 December.
Clyde Road will also be closed from that Monday, until Thursday 19 December.
Princes Freeway is also set to have some lane closures from Wednesday 18 December to Thursday 19 December.
There will also be lane and pedestrian crossing closures at Clyde Road until mid-2025.
As it stands, the project has a completion timeline of 2027, with Hill adding that the allocated $250 million would be sufficient funding to get the job done.
“The project managers are telling us that they’re on time and they’re on budget at this point, so that is our expectation that will continue to be the case,” he said.
