Work has started on a dramatic revamp of a notorious traffic bottleneck and cycling blackspot in Footscray.
The $40 million first stage of the state government’s Westgate Distributor project, started last week, will strengthen and widen Shepherd Bridge and create a new, separate Maribyrnong River bridge for cyclists.
The project follows years of calls by cyclists for their own crossing to avoid mixing with about 8000 trucks that use the bridge each day.
Shepherd Bridge is being widened from two to four out-bound lanes and Moreland Street will be widened from two to four lanes, with new traffic lights at the intersection with Napier Street.
Shepherd Bridge is used by more than 40,000 vehicles and 1100 cyclists every day.
The project comes only two years after $4.15 million was spent on Shepherd Bridge, for road resurfacing, structural maintenance, cleaning and repainting.
State Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said the roadworks were designed to tackle the bottleneck caused by freight traffic queuing on Whitehall Street in a bid to access Napier Street and the Port of Melbourne.
Construction of the new pedestrian and cycling bridge will begin next month and finish by the end of the year, with Shepherd Bridge works to finish early next year and the whole project to be completed by mid-2017.
Mr Donnellan said the project would mean residents would no longer sit in long traffic queues at Whitehall Street and Footscray Road intersections.
“More than 1000 pedestrians and cyclists use Shepherd Bridge every day. For them, this means better city access and a safer crossing over the Maribyrnong River,” he said.
“Widening Footscray Road and Moreland Street will also provide more reliable freight access to the Port of Melbourne.”
The widening has required the removal of a handful of established trees on the Footscray side of Shepherd Bridge and the loss of about 50 parking spaces on Moreland Street.
Most of the work is taking place at night or behind safety barriers, but motorists are being urged to allow extra travel time during construction because of a 40km/h speed limit outside the morning peak.
Stage two of the Westgate Distributor project, which was to include truck off-ramps from the West Gate Bridge, has been mothballed in favour of Transurban’s $5.5 billion Western Distributor, construction of which is due to begin next year.
