Motorists in Melbourne’s south east will soon have safer, smoother journeys with major construction on the Hallam Road Upgrade now complete and the nearby Evans Road level crossing to be removed by the end of the year.

More than 10,000 motorists use Hallam Road each day and there have been 22 crashes south of Ormond Road or at the intersection of South Gippsland Highway, Evans Road and Hallam Road, since 2012.

The Hallam Road Upgrade Project has realigned Hallam Road and Evans Road, and installed traffic lights to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians. Traffic lights have also been added outside the Resource Recovery Precinct to improve access for pedestrians, and new paths have been built on both sides of Hallam Road and Evans Road.

The project has also built new bus stops along Hallam Road and Evans Road, and installed new bus queue jump lanes at the Hallam Road, South Gippsland Highway and Evans Road intersection to give buses priority.

In coming weeks, the Government will release new designs for Hallam Station, based on community feedback. The new Hallam station will be built as part of the Hallam Road Level Crossing Removal Project, which will begin at the end of the year and be finished in 2022.

The Government is also getting on with the $1 billion Cranbourne Line Upgrade, which will duplicate the line, build a new Merinda Park Station and remove the last level crossings left on the line – we have already removed eleven crossings on the Cranbourne Line.

The new station, level crossing removals, Metro Tunnel and high-capacity trains will together create capacity for 121,000 extra passengers in the peak, each week on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines – a 45 per cent increase.