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M80 Ring Road
The M80 Ring Road (also known simply as the Ring Road or by the names of its constituent parts; the Western Ring Road and the Metropolitan Ring Road) is a partially complete urban freeway ring road around Melbourne, Australia. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion, as well to avoid confusion between declarations.
The ring road connects Melbourne's western suburbs and northern suburbs to other Victorian urban and rural freeways (the West Gate and Princes Freeways, Western Freeway, Calder Freeway, Tullamarine Freeway and Hume Freeway), and also relieves freight traffic from Sydney Road, Pascoe Vale Road and Geelong Road. With connections to every major interstate and regional freeway, it has encouraged both industrial and residential growth in Melbourne's western suburbs.
A series of major upgrades along the entire route commenced in 2009, including widening and a Freeway Management System; the most recent section between Sydney and Edgars Roads commenced construction in 2020 and was completed in 2022, one year ahead of schedule.
The North East Link is currently under construction between the Greensborough Bypass, the north-eastern end of the Ring Road, with the Eastern Freeway. This will connect a freeway-standard ring road encircle Melbourne from Laverton North in the south-western suburbs to Frankston in the south-eastern suburbs.
The Western Ring Road officially begins at the West Gate Interchange in Laverton North, with ramps to and from the West Gate Freeway, Princes Freeway and Geelong Road, and heads north as a six-lane dual-carriageway until the Western Freeway/Fitzgerald Road interchange, widening to eight lanes and heading north-east, widening again to ten lanes at the Sunshine Avenue/McIntyre Road interchange and crossing the Maribyrnong River over the EJ Whitten Bridge (named after Australian rules football player Ted Whitten. The freeway narrows to eight lanes at the Calder Freeway interchange, then narrowing further to six lanes at the Dalton Road interchange, and again to four lanes at the Plenty Road interchange, before terminating at the Greensborough Bypass in Greensborough.
The road has a non-peak speed limit of 100 km/h for almost its entire length; between Greensborough Bypass and Plenty Road, the speed limit drops to 80 km/h (formerly 90 km/h before freeway works completed). The Western Ring Road between the Western Highway and the Tullamarine Freeway was previously configured with variable speed limits, which can vary between 60 km/h and 100 km/h depending upon traffic conditions. As of the 2009-2023 upgrades, all upgraded sections now feature a Freeway Management System (similar to the system in place on the M1 corridor) which provide more detailed information to drivers (including variable speed limits) and has replaced the previous variable speed limit system between Ballarat Road (the current name for the previous Western Highway) and the Tullamarine Freeway.
Standard travel time for the M80 Ring Road is 25 minutes (17 minutes on the Western Ring Road and 8 minutes on the Metropolitan Ring Road) in both directions. However, peak period freeway travel times typically vary between 30 and 45 minutes in each direction, unless there are significant incidents, which can stretch travel times from 50 minutes to beyond one hour.
The Ring Road project was proposed as part of the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan (F3, F5 & F7 Freeway corridors) and has documented in almost every edition of the Melway street directory since that time. Construction of the Western Ring Road began in February 1989 with work on the Broadmeadows section, and was completed with the final link between the Calder and Tullamarine Freeways. Under the Keating government, a total $555 million was provided by the federal government for the Western Ring Road, with a $76 million contribution from the Victorian Government.
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M80 Ring Road
The M80 Ring Road (also known simply as the Ring Road or by the names of its constituent parts; the Western Ring Road and the Metropolitan Ring Road) is a partially complete urban freeway ring road around Melbourne, Australia. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion, as well to avoid confusion between declarations.
The ring road connects Melbourne's western suburbs and northern suburbs to other Victorian urban and rural freeways (the West Gate and Princes Freeways, Western Freeway, Calder Freeway, Tullamarine Freeway and Hume Freeway), and also relieves freight traffic from Sydney Road, Pascoe Vale Road and Geelong Road. With connections to every major interstate and regional freeway, it has encouraged both industrial and residential growth in Melbourne's western suburbs.
A series of major upgrades along the entire route commenced in 2009, including widening and a Freeway Management System; the most recent section between Sydney and Edgars Roads commenced construction in 2020 and was completed in 2022, one year ahead of schedule.
The North East Link is currently under construction between the Greensborough Bypass, the north-eastern end of the Ring Road, with the Eastern Freeway. This will connect a freeway-standard ring road encircle Melbourne from Laverton North in the south-western suburbs to Frankston in the south-eastern suburbs.
The Western Ring Road officially begins at the West Gate Interchange in Laverton North, with ramps to and from the West Gate Freeway, Princes Freeway and Geelong Road, and heads north as a six-lane dual-carriageway until the Western Freeway/Fitzgerald Road interchange, widening to eight lanes and heading north-east, widening again to ten lanes at the Sunshine Avenue/McIntyre Road interchange and crossing the Maribyrnong River over the EJ Whitten Bridge (named after Australian rules football player Ted Whitten. The freeway narrows to eight lanes at the Calder Freeway interchange, then narrowing further to six lanes at the Dalton Road interchange, and again to four lanes at the Plenty Road interchange, before terminating at the Greensborough Bypass in Greensborough.
The road has a non-peak speed limit of 100 km/h for almost its entire length; between Greensborough Bypass and Plenty Road, the speed limit drops to 80 km/h (formerly 90 km/h before freeway works completed). The Western Ring Road between the Western Highway and the Tullamarine Freeway was previously configured with variable speed limits, which can vary between 60 km/h and 100 km/h depending upon traffic conditions. As of the 2009-2023 upgrades, all upgraded sections now feature a Freeway Management System (similar to the system in place on the M1 corridor) which provide more detailed information to drivers (including variable speed limits) and has replaced the previous variable speed limit system between Ballarat Road (the current name for the previous Western Highway) and the Tullamarine Freeway.
Standard travel time for the M80 Ring Road is 25 minutes (17 minutes on the Western Ring Road and 8 minutes on the Metropolitan Ring Road) in both directions. However, peak period freeway travel times typically vary between 30 and 45 minutes in each direction, unless there are significant incidents, which can stretch travel times from 50 minutes to beyond one hour.
The Ring Road project was proposed as part of the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan (F3, F5 & F7 Freeway corridors) and has documented in almost every edition of the Melway street directory since that time. Construction of the Western Ring Road began in February 1989 with work on the Broadmeadows section, and was completed with the final link between the Calder and Tullamarine Freeways. Under the Keating government, a total $555 million was provided by the federal government for the Western Ring Road, with a $76 million contribution from the Victorian Government.