Major Road Projects Victoria has reached another milestone on the Pakenham Roads Upgrade, opening the new McGregor Road Gippsland-bound Princes Freeway entry ramp to complete the freeway diamond interchange.
The new interchange will provide direct access from McGregor Road to the freeway and beyond giving greater travel options.
Drivers can now enter and exit the Princes Freeway at McGregor Road in both directions, making it easier than before to travel around Pakenham.
“McGregor Road now has complete access to the Princes Freeway with the new outbound entry ramp opened last week as part of the Pakenham Roads Upgrade,“ Major Road Projects Victoria Program Director Brendan Pauwels
“These works, alongside those for the new Healesville-Kooweerup Road freeway bridge and signalised intersections, will get traffic moving quickly and safely throughout Pakenham.”
Our works on this freeway ramp also included significant innovation in reducing and reusing waste materials, by incorporating recycled asphalt.
Using a cutting-edge construction method – called foam bitumen stabilisation – we’ve reused old road materials to build the new lanes.
In this process, 58 tonnes of bitumen was injected with high-pressure water and air to create a foam, which was mixed with gravel to form the different layers in the foundation of the new entry ramp.
Over 70 per cent of the gravel used in the bitumen was made from old road materials removed as part of the Pakenham Roads Upgrade, reducing the need to transport and dispose of construction waste. The foam bitumen also replaces traditional asphalt and crushed rock in the road foundation, minimising the use of new materials for more efficient road construction.
This ramp is the second completed as part of the project, following the Melbourne-bound exit ramp opening in December last year.
The opening of the new freeway ramp also marks the start of the project’s next stage of major works to upgrade the Healesville-Kooweerup Road freeway roundabouts to traffic light intersections.
Traffic will be moved to a temporary lane built through the centre of the freeway roundabout on the Pakenham side of the freeway, as works begin to upgrade the Pakenham-bound half of the whole interchange.
There will be restrictions on right turns for traffic entering and exiting the freeway using Healesville-Kooweerup Road on the Pakenham side of the freeway in place until October, but the project will maintain through movements on Healesville-Kooweerup Road.
Over on McGregor Road, the Pakenham Roads Upgrade is soon starting the next stage of works to upgrade the intersection of McGregor Road, Henry Road and Webster Way. On Sunday 19 May, the project will close the intersection for one day to set up a new work zone on Henry Road.
Henry Road will remain closed between McGregor Road and Heritage Boulevard until early July, as crews work to upgrade that side of the intersection. Access to Heritage Shopping Centre and Pakenham Springs Primary School will remain open at all times. Detours will be in place via Henry Lawson Drive and Livingstone Boulevard.
