Freeway work gathers pace

By Jim Mynard
THE missing link for the 20kilometre $242 million Pakenham freeway went into place on Friday.
The Federal Minister for Local Government Territories and Roads Jim Lloyd and the State Minister for Transport Peter Batchelor awarded a contract for the Beaconsfield end of the freeway.
This was for the $66 million section from the eastern end of the Berwick Bypass to Cardinia Road, Pakenham.
Mr Batchelor said this meant that groundworks would soon be evident on all three sections of the new freeway.
Mr Lloyd said the road was jointly funded under the Auslink $12.7 billion National Transport Plan.
This is a joint venture between the federal and state governments.
The ministers said the freeway would be opened near the end of 2007.
The central 6.7kilometre section between the PakenhamKooweerup Road and Cardinia Road west of Pakenham is well advanced.
Road detours are now in place to allow overpass construction.
A bridge is being built over Toomuc Creek and overpasses will be built at Cardinia, McGregor and Kooweerup roads this year.
Traffic has to be diverted on to sidetracks and this process will remain until the overpass bridges are complete.
Groundwork started on the 7.3km section from Kooweerup Road, westerly to Nar Nar Goon late last year.
Mr Batchelor said the third contract contained significant environmental protection measures.
These included a bridge structure spanning the Cardinia Creek and its floodplains, the habitat of the nationally significant dwarf galaxias fish.
Mr Lloyd said traffic volumes moving through Pakenham now were at 26,000 vehicles a day.
He said 11 per cent of these were commercial vehicles.
“By 2010, traffic is forecast to increase to 37,000 vehicles a day,” he said.