Love your work! I'd love a series on the Hume Freeway from Melbourne to Sydney. A huge undertaking, but there is so limited information on its construction and changes over the years. The bypass through Albury-Wodonga in itself could be a whole video.
This is such a coincidence! I was looking at this interchange myself five minutes before I clicked onto TH-cam. I love that you can see the physical evidence of the planned cloverstack interchange and you did a great job of explaining it! Just thought I'd add that the eastbound off-ramp and the westbound on-ramp have what's called a "ramp stub"--a small piece of asphalt hinting at a future or cancelled ramp. These can be clearly seen from Google Earth/Street View or even when you're driving down the ramps in real life.
Love your work Phil. In 1948 we moved into our house in Greythorn Rd Nth Balwyn which dad was still finishing off. Shopping town wasn’t at Whites dairy site of course . There was a horse trough at Mount Albert tram terminus along with a pre-supermarket Moran and Cato ‘grocer’ shop. Greythorn Rd was regularly dug up for services gutters, paths etc and we had orchards to our east side. Cheers - David Pearn
There used to be a similar situation in Perth on the Mitchell Freeway interchange ('Hamilton Interchange') north of the city center. It used to include a stub off ramp that ended in thin air. When the Graham Farmer Freeway (aka the 'Polly Pipe') was built in the 1990s, that offramp which had been unnused since it was built in the late 60s was used to connect the Mitchell Freeway to the Graham Farmer Freeway, though as to whether this was the original intent I'm not sure.
There is also a ghost interchange at the Hume freeway and western ring road. It sits between the on and off ramps of the hume and is clearly visible when you drive by and on google maps/streetview as they had already started to construct it many years ago. I always wondered what the plan was for it. Very recently that part of the ring road has had a major overhaul and they never used this interchange so it looks like we will never see it completed.
@@soulsphere9242 I’d definitely say it was. In fact essentially it is the northern end (the Ghost Ring Road) and the ghost interchange in this video was meant to be the what was the Hume in the north crossing the Eastern here. With it coming down the valley/creek.
I don't think there is a ghost ramp between the Humes entry and exit ramps as the government sold the reserved land further south (after Mahoneys Rd) which has become housing. Vic roads definitely keeps its reserved land and overlays for future use and would only consider selling off reserved land if they were to abolish any future roadways. In this case I don't believe you will ever see the hume fwy extended further south past the metro ring Rd.
@@soulsphere9242 Indeed, if I recall correctly, the Hume was originally going to continue south along the Merri Creek valley between Fawkner to the west and Reservoir to the east eventually ending at the intersection of Bell St and Nicholson St in East Coburg.
Fantastic video. Given the planning zone, this interchange will likely change as part of the North East Link project, with a bus lane likely going under the bridge.
The old path running the bridge should be converted into a bike path to join up with the main yarra trail. At present to get from Dights falls to the main yarra trail, heading east, you have to go accross the narrow bridge at Fairfield boathouse then up a big hill. They should have built a path between the Embing hospital and the eastern freeway, going past the fly fishing ponds, over the yarra and then past the Royal Talbot hospital
I’ve recently discovered your freeway project videos ands I’ve been enjoying watching them in great detail. Are you able to explain why the Eastern Freeway ends at Hoddle Street. If you have compiled a video detailing this reason, I would be very interested to watch it.
Wow never knew it was built for this. I knew it was wide but I assumed it was built that way for the purposes of the Doncaster Railway and a railway station and car park interchange.
I had always wondered about that intersection. Let's hope nothing is ever built there. Nice to have some open space and some grass. Not very useful, but that's okay. Some greenery is better than none.
It would actually be better built as flying off ramps so City bound traffic going to the Chandler bridge goes under and up a ramp ending on the correct side (no need for the current traffic lights holding up Kew bound traffic to allow off ramp traffic to cross). Same for outbound traffic could have a flying ramp under and over that leads straight onto the Chandler heading to Kew not requiring traffic lights holding up traffic backing back into the freeway.
I've often wondered if something similar was planned in the past for the intersection between Maroondah Hwy and Kimberley Dr, Chirnside Park. At some point, some serious excavation was carried out for a space that now sits vacant and overgrown.
I can't find anything in the 1969 Plan or other transport plan about this land. I believe that it is land left over from when the Maroondah Highway was built and replaced the old road alignment (today called Old Melbourne Road). It appears to have been sold off at one point though, as it was proposed for development a few years ago and is now zoned Mixed Use Zone (MUZ): www.smh.com.au/business/companies/freeman-family-lists-enormous-yarra-valley-gateway-site-20170307-gusef6.html
@@philipmallis That’s interesting. I wonder if it’ll ever be developed. The area is certainly changing; the grassed area to the left of the photo in the article you linked recently morphed into the ‘Chirnside Lifestyle Centre’, the latest bulky goods / fast food retail precinct. Nothing stays the same! Thanks for replying.
Here's what my Mother in law said, she lived close by, "I remember concern about proposed road work in Kew in the 1960’s as there was concern that the old outer circle rail area would become a feeder road. It affected home prices at the time. To celebrate Victorias 150th anniversary in 1985 the outer circle became the recreational anniversary trail. The Liberal Govt was in power in the 1960’s & most of the home owners backing onto the reserve would have been Liberal voters. FYI, Premier Sir Henry Bolte and the Deputy Premier (Sir Arthur Rylan) lived in Mont Victor Ave.
Hello Do you know if the Monash Freeway overpass of Ferntree Gully Road a planned interchange as there looks to be a lot of space. I can see on Google maps there’s a sorta ailment that connects to Mordialloc Freeway
Yes you're right - well spotted! The bit between the north end of Westall Road and the Monash Freeway here was part of the F7 Freeway alignment and this would have likely been planned as a huge cloverleaf interchange. It would have also extended north of here all the way up to Eltham. You can see more detail in this map: prov.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/media/gurciullos-f01-left.jpg
@@philipmallis ok thanks for that! Hopefully one day we could see a partly tunnelled stretch from The Mornington Peninsula /Mordialloc Freeway to here as it looks like there’s still most of the aliment
It’s for a continuation of Westall road bypass from the Princess highway. I can guarantee it will be built in one form or another one day. Even makes sense to continue to through to Wellington road at least.
As some of the other guys have said, there probably was / is a plan to connect the Monash Freeway to the Mordialloc Freeway. But in all likelihood, that connection will never go ahead now because it would take traffic away from Eastlink. Labor Goverments are committed to funding SRL East for the foreseeable future. They aren't going to spend much more money building Freeways in the middle SE suburbs of Melbourne any time soon.
Hi Philip, Fantastic content. came here from your twitter. did you ever write or make a video about the fact that MEL doesn't have a rail link to the airport?
Not necessary. Anyone who has lived in Melbourne over the past 50 years knows exactly why there is no direct Rail link to Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport. However, thanks to the influx of Driveshare services courtesy of the internet it looks like Melbourne will finally get that link sooner rather than later.
Vic roads has many overlays and reserved land. One side of punt Rd has an overlay on it for future widening. Vic roads also owns some of the derelict housing too. If you were to ever get a section 32 of one of the properties, it's very possible you would see a possible acquisition by Vic roads to widen punt Rd in the future.
@@mickman3582 Widening Punt Rd is such an inefficient solution. Engineering methods and technology have evolved to the point where building a second layer road above the existing one would be much more effective. It has been done successfully with SkyRail. What we need now are some SkyRoads.
Heavy Vehicle Mass Transit becomes seriously ineffective in times of crisis (eg. pandemics). Melbourne will always be heavily reliant on personal transportation because it is so spread out.
the most concerning comment is : "over the last few decades many of the 1969 freeways are actually being built - slowly but surely"...sad that is the case. NE Link is a effectively an amalgam of F18 / F7, if i am not mistaken. gross...
Why? Why not build both. Do you know of any trains that go door to door? Buses? Any public transit go in every direction at once? Are there great hordes of People that enjoy having to get 2 buses and a train to work instead of climbing into their car in their driveway right to the door of their work?
Do you actually pay attention to the way many people drive on Freeways? 80km/h speed limits are the future for most of Melbourne's Freeways. Blame all the idiots, many of which shouldn't even be driving cars, let alone driving them on Freeways. Of course, there is an alternative. Retain 100km/h speed limits but post Fixed Speed Cameras along Freeways at 1km intervals. And anyone responsible for causing collisions as a result of breaking the speed limit receives a mandatory 7 day prison sentence.
Not sure where you've been for the last few years, but obviously not the Chandler Hwy as it has at least two lanes in both directions now, and three for a good chunk of it.
@@sealy_99 my mistake . Correct you are . I was thinking of the bottle neck leading north bound into Fairfield ...but they have opened that up also . In saying that , the chandler has no business being called a highway.
@@karmicselling4252 what ? Are you serious ? 80km limits are bad enough, let alone your proposal to lock people up for breaking the 100kmh limits with fixed re revenue cameras ffs . Do you work for the Andrews government? Or Vicpol. I reckon your the sort of person that discriminates against Anti-vaxxers!
god I cannot get enough of melbourne infrastructure videos just inject it directly into my veins
lol
Same here ... I'm hooked.
I have always thought the Chandler Highway overpass area was very 'roomy'....now I know why! Thanks Philip
Love your work! I'd love a series on the Hume Freeway from Melbourne to Sydney. A huge undertaking, but there is so limited information on its construction and changes over the years. The bypass through Albury-Wodonga in itself could be a whole video.
Thank you! And great idea, I'll add it to the list!
@@philipmallis and it need more lanes now as all the new suburbs radiate out north.
This channel is criminally underrated
Agreed
This is such a coincidence! I was looking at this interchange myself five minutes before I clicked onto TH-cam. I love that you can see the physical evidence of the planned cloverstack interchange and you did a great job of explaining it! Just thought I'd add that the eastbound off-ramp and the westbound on-ramp have what's called a "ramp stub"--a small piece of asphalt hinting at a future or cancelled ramp. These can be clearly seen from Google Earth/Street View or even when you're driving down the ramps in real life.
Love your work Phil.
In 1948 we moved into our house in Greythorn Rd Nth Balwyn which dad was still finishing off.
Shopping town wasn’t at Whites dairy site of course .
There was a horse trough at Mount Albert tram terminus along with a pre-supermarket Moran and Cato ‘grocer’ shop.
Greythorn Rd was regularly dug up for services gutters, paths etc and we had orchards to our east side.
Cheers - David Pearn
Thanks very much for sharing David and glad you enjoyed the videos!
There used to be a similar situation in Perth on the Mitchell Freeway interchange ('Hamilton Interchange') north of the city center. It used to include a stub off ramp that ended in thin air. When the Graham Farmer Freeway (aka the 'Polly Pipe') was built in the 1990s, that offramp which had been unnused since it was built in the late 60s was used to connect the Mitchell Freeway to the Graham Farmer Freeway, though as to whether this was the original intent I'm not sure.
As a truck driver who uses this overpass every few days, I've often wondered what that unmade road was about. Now I know, thanks.
There is also a ghost interchange at the Hume freeway and western ring road. It sits between the on and off ramps of the hume and is clearly visible when you drive by and on google maps/streetview as they had already started to construct it many years ago. I always wondered what the plan was for it. Very recently that part of the ring road has had a major overhaul and they never used this interchange so it looks like we will never see it completed.
@@soulsphere9242 I’d definitely say it was. In fact essentially it is the northern end (the Ghost Ring Road) and the ghost interchange in this video was meant to be the what was the Hume in the north crossing the Eastern here. With it coming down the valley/creek.
I don't think there is a ghost ramp between the Humes entry and exit ramps as the government sold the reserved land further south (after Mahoneys Rd) which has become housing. Vic roads definitely keeps its reserved land and overlays for future use and would only consider selling off reserved land if they were to abolish any future roadways. In this case I don't believe you will ever see the hume fwy extended further south past the metro ring Rd.
@@mickman3582 have a look next time you drive past, you can’t miss it, it’s huge
@@soulsphere9242 Indeed, if I recall correctly, the Hume was originally going to continue south along the Merri Creek valley between Fawkner to the west and Reservoir to the east eventually ending at the intersection of Bell St and Nicholson St in East Coburg.
Had to laugh at the cop waiting to catch speedsters at 2:22 nice catch ...
Fantastic video. Given the planning zone, this interchange will likely change as part of the North East Link project, with a bus lane likely going under the bridge.
I love finding a bit of green space who's purpose isn't immediately obvious, then using that zoning map etc to help see what the area was.
The old path running the bridge should be converted into a bike path to join up with the main yarra trail. At present to get from Dights falls to the main yarra trail, heading east, you have to go accross the narrow bridge at Fairfield boathouse then up a big hill. They should have built a path between the Embing hospital and the eastern freeway, going past the fly fishing ponds, over the yarra and then past the Royal Talbot hospital
I've always wondered what that was for, great video.
I’ve recently discovered your freeway project videos ands I’ve been enjoying watching them in great detail. Are you able to explain why the Eastern Freeway ends at Hoddle Street. If you have compiled a video detailing this reason, I would be very interested to watch it.
Wow never knew it was built for this. I knew it was wide but I assumed it was built that way for the purposes of the Doncaster Railway and a railway station and car park interchange.
I had always wondered about that intersection. Let's hope nothing is ever built there. Nice to have some open space and some grass. Not very useful, but that's okay. Some greenery is better than none.
It would actually be better built as flying off ramps so City bound traffic going to the Chandler bridge goes under and up a ramp ending on the correct side (no need for the current traffic lights holding up Kew bound traffic to allow off ramp traffic to cross). Same for outbound traffic could have a flying ramp under and over that leads straight onto the Chandler heading to Kew not requiring traffic lights holding up traffic backing back into the freeway.
Fantastic video Phillip! Thoroughly enjoyed it as usual
For a highway, the Chandler is rather short.
It's the shortest highway in the world at 1.4 km long.
I've often wondered if something similar was planned in the past for the intersection between Maroondah Hwy and Kimberley Dr, Chirnside Park. At some point, some serious excavation was carried out for a space that now sits vacant and overgrown.
I can't find anything in the 1969 Plan or other transport plan about this land. I believe that it is land left over from when the Maroondah Highway was built and replaced the old road alignment (today called Old Melbourne Road).
It appears to have been sold off at one point though, as it was proposed for development a few years ago and is now zoned Mixed Use Zone (MUZ): www.smh.com.au/business/companies/freeman-family-lists-enormous-yarra-valley-gateway-site-20170307-gusef6.html
@@philipmallis That’s interesting. I wonder if it’ll ever be developed. The area is certainly changing; the grassed area to the left of the photo in the article you linked recently morphed into the ‘Chirnside Lifestyle Centre’, the latest bulky goods / fast food retail precinct. Nothing stays the same! Thanks for replying.
Great stuff and channel thanks Philip
Here's what my Mother in law said, she lived close by, "I remember concern about proposed road work in Kew in the 1960’s as there was concern that the old outer circle rail area would become a feeder road. It affected home prices at the time. To celebrate Victorias 150th anniversary in 1985 the outer circle became the recreational anniversary trail. The Liberal Govt was in power in the 1960’s & most of the home owners backing onto the reserve would have been Liberal voters. FYI, Premier Sir Henry Bolte and the Deputy Premier (Sir Arthur Rylan) lived in Mont Victor Ave.
Please do a video on F9
Hello
Do you know if the Monash Freeway overpass of Ferntree Gully Road a planned interchange as there looks to be a lot of space.
I can see on Google maps there’s a sorta ailment that connects to Mordialloc Freeway
Yes you're right - well spotted! The bit between the north end of Westall Road and the Monash Freeway here was part of the F7 Freeway alignment and this would have likely been planned as a huge cloverleaf interchange. It would have also extended north of here all the way up to Eltham. You can see more detail in this map: prov.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/media/gurciullos-f01-left.jpg
@@philipmallis ok thanks for that!
Hopefully one day we could see a partly tunnelled stretch from The Mornington Peninsula /Mordialloc Freeway to here as it looks like there’s still most of the aliment
It’s for a continuation of Westall road bypass from the Princess highway. I can guarantee it will be built in one form or another one day. Even makes sense to continue to through to Wellington road at least.
Yep, the reservation is there basically ready to go between IKEA and the freeway.
As some of the other guys have said, there probably was / is a plan to connect the Monash Freeway to the Mordialloc Freeway. But in all likelihood, that connection will never go ahead now because it would take traffic away from Eastlink. Labor Goverments are committed to funding SRL East for the foreseeable future. They aren't going to spend much more money building Freeways in the middle SE suburbs of Melbourne any time soon.
Hi Philip, Fantastic content. came here from your twitter.
did you ever write or make a video about the fact that MEL doesn't have a rail link to the airport?
Not necessary. Anyone who has lived in Melbourne over the past 50 years knows exactly why there is no direct Rail link to Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport. However, thanks to the influx of Driveshare services courtesy of the internet it looks like Melbourne will finally get that link sooner rather than later.
Thanks Phillip. Looks like they may be built in the future or may not! 👍🏽🙏🏽
Vic roads has many overlays and reserved land. One side of punt Rd has an overlay on it for future widening. Vic roads also owns some of the derelict housing too. If you were to ever get a section 32 of one of the properties, it's very possible you would see a possible acquisition by Vic roads to widen punt Rd in the future.
@@mickman3582 Widening Punt Rd is such an inefficient solution. Engineering methods and technology have evolved to the point where building a second layer road above the existing one would be much more effective. It has been done successfully with SkyRail. What we need now are some SkyRoads.
Is this why Victoria's Government once wanted to make this freeway heritage listed?
as a kid I would look at this undeveloped part and think "what are they building there?" turns out, nothing!
Ah yes, I've been laying awake at night over this freeway wondering if it will ever recover. 🥵
Hopefully they don’t build it. We don’t need more highways, we need more transit.
Y you can have both. And sorry, the general public have shown they like their cars. And you can’t have transit go door to door and in all directions.
Heavy Vehicle Mass Transit becomes seriously ineffective in times of crisis (eg. pandemics). Melbourne will always be heavily reliant on personal transportation because it is so spread out.
the most concerning comment is : "over the last few decades many of the 1969 freeways are actually being built - slowly but surely"...sad that is the case. NE Link is a effectively an amalgam of F18 / F7, if i am not mistaken. gross...
And nothing wrong with that. 5 million and growing. Did you not think new roads wouldn’t be built?
I'm sick of public outcry's. JUST IGNORE THEM!!!
Build public transit first
Why? Why not build both. Do you know of any trains that go door to door? Buses? Any public transit go in every direction at once? Are there great hordes of People that enjoy having to get 2 buses and a train to work instead of climbing into their car in their driveway right to the door of their work?
The single lane “ chandler highway “
Melbourne- the only city in the world with 80km speed limits on freeways ffs
Do you actually pay attention to the way many people drive on Freeways? 80km/h speed limits are the future for most of Melbourne's Freeways. Blame all the idiots, many of which shouldn't even be driving cars, let alone driving them on Freeways. Of course, there is an alternative. Retain 100km/h speed limits but post Fixed Speed Cameras along Freeways at 1km intervals. And anyone responsible for causing collisions as a result of breaking the speed limit receives a mandatory 7 day prison sentence.
Not sure where you've been for the last few years, but obviously not the Chandler Hwy as it has at least two lanes in both directions now, and three for a good chunk of it.
@@sealy_99 my mistake . Correct you are .
I was thinking of the bottle neck leading north bound into Fairfield ...but they have opened that up also .
In saying that , the chandler has no business being called a highway.
@@karmicselling4252 what ? Are you serious ? 80km limits are bad enough, let alone your proposal to lock people up for breaking the 100kmh limits with fixed re revenue cameras ffs .
Do you work for the Andrews government? Or Vicpol.
I reckon your the sort of person that discriminates against Anti-vaxxers!
@@deplorableaussie6749 I can agree with that point.