Lanes gained

IT’S a smooth ride ahead for drivers near Hampton Park with the completion of multi-million dollar upgrades and the opening of new lanes last week.
A $36.8 million upgrade included four extra lanes on the Pound Road Bridge over the freeway, additional turn lanes to the Abbotts Road/South Gippsland Highway intersection, and new signals to improve safety and control traffic movements at the Pound Road/South Gippsland Highway and Pound Road/Vanessa Drive intersections, and from the Pound Road entry ramp to the freeway.
The works finished ahead of schedule and under budget, South Eastern Metropolitan Region MP Gordon Rich-Phillips said.
“These road improvements will reduce travel times and costs for road freight operators and their customers for goods transported to and from the Dandenong South industrial precinct,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.
“Daily commuters will also benefit from the better access between Pound Road, the South Gippsland Freeway and the highway.
“Approximately 33,000 vehicles use Pound Road each day, including 4,000 trucks.”
Mr Rich-Phillips said that Pound Road was an important link in Melbourne’s south eastern transport network, connecting two of the area’s busiest roads, the South Gippsland Freeway and the South Gippsland Highway.
Final road surfacing at various locations will finish later this year when warm and dry conditions allow for these works to be done at night to minimise traffic impacts.
Mr Rich-Phillips congratulated VicRoads for completing the works on time and under budget.