Tullamarine Freeway

Tullamarine Freeway
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Basic data
Operator:	VicRoads
Start of the street:	C743 Sunbury Road ; Tullamarine / Melbourne Airport ( VIC ); ( 37 ° 40 ′ S , 144 ° 51 ′ E )
End of street:	M2 CityLink (Western Link); Pascoe Vale ( Melbourne ) ( VIC ); ( 37 ° 44 ′ S , 144 ° 55 ′ E )
Overall length:	13 km
States :	Victoria
	Tollamarine Freeway at the transition to CityLink

Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The Tullamarine Freeway is an urban highway in the northwestern part of Melbourne in the south of the Australian state of Victoria . It connects Sunbury Road at Melbourne Airport in Tullamarine with CityLink (Western Link) in Pascoe Vale (Melbourne).

history

The Tullamarine Freeway is one of the oldest freeways in Melbourne. The first section between Melbourne Airport and Essendon Airport was opened to traffic on April 2, 1968. It was to replace Lancefield Road (today. Melrose Drive ) in Tullamarine and parts of Bulla Road in Essendon and serve as a feeder road to the new Melbourne Airport. A connection to the Calder Highway west of the airport was also built. From Essendon a new connection has been made to the east, to Pascoe Vale , and further south, along Moonee Ponds Creek , to Mount Alexander Road in Flemington . This link was intended to take on the role of a main drag into downtown Melbourne from Mount Alexander Road.

The freeway was originally numbered as F81 all the way from Tullamarine to Flemington. The short connection to the Calder Highway has been designated as the Calder Freeway (F90). The freeway was mentioned as Freeway Corridor F14 in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan .

After the completion of the freeway, heavy traffic was directed from the Hume Highway to downtown Melbourne via Pascoe Vale Road . In the 1990s, the completion of the Western Ring Road caused a significant increase in traffic. Only the completion of the CityLink (Western Link) and the widening of the freeway to eight lanes defused the situation again. The expanded section of the route is subject to a toll.

The Skybus super shuttle (shuttle bus to the airport from downtown) runs over the freeway and in 2002 the state government launched an AU $ 3-10 million plan to improve this service after a study found that a Railway connection to the airport would not be used sufficiently and would therefore not be economical.

The junction with the Calder Freeway was completed in mid-2007 - earlier than expected. It had been significantly rebuilt to avoid traffic jams. A new bridge and north access to Essendon Airport from Melrose Drive has also been built, giving residents of the northern suburbs better access to Essendon Airport.

course

Today the Tullamarine Freeway officially begins on Pascoe Vale Road , because the section south of it has been part of the CityLink (Western Link) since the end of 1990. The six-lane median strip runs along the southern border of Essendon Airport and past the Direct Factroy Outlets complex, the former Melbourne airport.

At the junction with the Calder Freeway, the Tullamarine Freeway turns north and becomes four lanes with a concrete barrier (later grass and bush) in the middle. The Melrose Drive accompanies the freeway on his left. The heavy traffic from the Hume Freeway, which comes from the Western Ring Road, combined with the traffic to and from the airport often creates traffic jams. After the junction with the Western Ring Road, the traffic conditions improve slightly. The freeway ends at the Melbourne Airport exit.

Crossings and junctions

Tullamarine Freeway
Connections to the north	Distance to Melbourne Airport (km)	Distance to downtown Melbourne (km)	Connections to the south
End of Tullamarine Freeway further than Sunbury Road to Sunbury	-	23	Start of Tullamarine Freeway from Sunbury Road
	-	23	Melbourne Center Road Airport
Melbourne Terminal Drive Airport	1	22nd	no exit
Mercer Drive	2	21st	no exit
Tullamarine , Mickleham Mickleham Road	4th	19th	Mickleham, Tullamarine Mickleham Road
no exit	5.5	17.5	Seymour , Sydney Western Ring Road
Seymour , Sydney Western Ring Road	6th	17th	to West Geelong Airport , Bendigo , Adelaide Western Ring Road
ALBION-JACANA FREIGHT RAILWAY LINE	6.5	16.5	ALBION-JACANA FREIGHT RAILWAY LINE
West Melrose Drive Airport	7th	16	Essendon Wirraway Road Airport
Airport West, Essendon Airport Matthews Avenue / English Street	8th	15th	Essendon Airport , Niddrie English Street / Matthews Avenue
Keilor , Bendigo Calder Freeway	9.5	13.5	Essendon , Moonee Ponds Bulla Road
Niddrie, Essendon Bulla Road	11	12	Coburg , Heidelberg Bell Street
Beginning of the Tullamarine Freeway further from CityLink	13	10	At the end of the Tullamarine Freeway, continue as CityLink to Melbourne