By Jessica Micallef
Local campaigners have welcomed a $50 million boost from the federal government to ease traffic on the Calder Freeway.
Upgrades, including adding extra lanes will be built on the freeway between Gap Road, Sunbury and the M80 Ring Road.
Calder Action Group president and Sunbury resident Ian Sutherland said he was “delighted” the Calder Freeway would receive an upgrade.
However, Mr Sutherland said building a Calder Park Drive overpass on to the freeway was still his main priority.
“It’s been a campaign since the Kings Road overpass opened, which was around 2012, and we’ve made a lot of overtures to the state government in particular,” he said
“They’re talking about congestion and the overpass is the first step in relieving it.”
Mr Sutherland said the group wrote a letter to the federal government, outlining the need for an overpass on and off the freeway.
“They responded with, ‘Until the state government puts some priority on the changes, we’re a bit handicapped’ … and in a sense, the state government has still not committed themselves to the project within any time scales or funding,” he said.
“We’ve written regularly for six months and that’s been the situation up till now.
“The Calder Park Drive overpass has been estimated at about $200 million, but that comprises the overpass, a four lane overpass also on the railway line,” Mr Sutherland said.
He said his goal was to get the overpass built “first”, but he also wanted more attention drawn to the Maribyrnong River and Green Gully Road bridges over the freeway.
