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Plans for Wallan interchange upgrade

A major interchange on the Hume Highway on Melbourne’s fringe is set for an upgrade to improve transport connections for all modes, including bikes.

Wallan is a rapidly developing community an hour by train from Melbourne.

The Hume Highway carves through the middle of the area, with many residents living in new suburbs on the other side of the highway from the railway station, which is in East Wallan.

Major Roads Projects Victoria (MRPV) is currently planning an upgrade to the interchange of the Hume with Watson Street, which bridges over the Hume and connects Wallan to the Station.

There is already an off-road bike path along Watson Street to connect the communities on both sides of the highway.

Concept plans show the new interchange connections slicing through this path, and the path connecting Wallara Waters Boulevarde and the residential neighbourhood to the south.

It is important that these vital links to the station are not compromised in any way by these new road connections.

And there are other Strategic Cycling Corridors (SCC) planned for the Wallan area in the future that also must be taken into consideration by this upgrade.

Watson Street is a designated SCC, and there will be a new SCC on the west side of the Hume along the Northern Highway from Beveridge to Wallan.

And Wallan will eventually be the endpoint of the Merri Creek Trail, which will run along the rail line to Wallan from Kalkallo.

MRPV is developing the business case for the upgrade, to be completed by the end of next year.

It will consider options to create a full diamond interchange at Watson Street and the Hume Freeway, by adding south facing ramps (an outbound exit ramp and an inbound entry ramp), as well as upgrading Watson Street to improve capacity and safety.

Population is booming in the area, and unless a convenient bike network is created for local trips, Wallan will be a community 50km from Melbourne yet choked by traffic.