Geelong Ring Road
| Timeframe: | Start: early 2006
End: late 2010
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| Cost: | $505 million (for stages 1,2,3 & 4A) | | |
What's happening
Drivers travelling between Melbourne and the Victoria's Surf Coast can complete quicker, safer and easier trips all the way to the Princes Highway at Waurn Ponds – and not face a single traffic light – with the opening of Stage 3 of the Geelong Ring Road.
Project description
The Geelong Ring Road will be a new addition to Victoria's freeway network, extending 23km from the Princes Freeway in Corio to Anglesea Road in Waurn Ponds.
Interchanges at Bacchus Marsh Road, Anakie Road, Midland Highway, Hamilton Highway, Barrabool Road and Princes Highway will provide direct access to arterial roads within the Geelong region, Melbourne, destinations in the western district, and along the south-west coast of Victoria.
The project is being jointly funded by the Federal and Victorian Governments with planning already underway to extend the road to Princes Highway West and the Surf Coast Highway.
Project benefits
- Once completed, motorists will bypass more than 29 sets of traffic lights through Geelong. Journey times will be reduced to less than 15 minutes, compared to the current travel times of 25 – 60 minutes through Geelong.
- The Geelong Ring Road will provide greater connectivity to some of Victoria's most popular tourist destinations including the Great Ocean Road.
- The project will lead to 380 to 520 direct construction jobs and 580 to 780 indirect construction jobs. Following completion of the Geelong Ring Road it is estimated that 1,400 permanent jobs per annum will be created due to indirect economic benefits of the project.
- Tourism studies by the City of Greater Geelong have estimated that the Geelong Ring Road will encourage up to 300,000 extra people to visit the Geelong region each year, injecting $15 to $19 million into the regional economy.
- Once completed, the Geelong Ring Road is expected to carry around 15,000 to 25,000 vehicles per day, reducing the number of cars and trucks currently using local routes. This will ease congestion on existing roads that currently experience high levels of traffic, particularly during peak times.
More information