Western Port Highway is a north to south arterial road starting 35 kilometres south east of Melbourne’s CBD, which extends south from South Gippsland Freeway to Frankston Flinders Road.

Western Port Highway forms part of a wider freeway network that services the south east suburbs of Melbourne. Two intersections along Western Port Highway are proposed to be upgraded to signalised intersections:

• Ballarto Road, Cranbourne, Victoria.
• Cranbourne-Frankston Road, Cranbourne, Victoria.

BG&E and design and construction contractor, Downer EDI, developed the project scope and budget in collaboration with Major Road Project Victoria, as the delivery authority.

BG&E was the lead consultant – responsible for traffic, civil, and structural engineering, along with specialist subconsultants for the provision of lighting, landscape, environmental design, cultural heritage review, and road safety audits.

The works consisted of

• Removal of existing roundabouts and upgrade to signalised intersections.
• Traffic modelling.
• 3D road design.
• Barrier design.
• Signage and line marking.
• Traffic signal layout, equipment locations, and proposed connections.
• Street lighting and ISOLUX modelling.
• Structures design, retaining walls, and culvert headwalls.
• 3D drainage design (including water sensitive road design).
• Flood modelling and flood mitigation measures.
• Pavement design.
• Utilities coordination.
• Landscaping and urban design.
• Shared use path networks.
• Additional through lanes for Western Port Highway at the upgrade intersection.
• Duplication of Ballarto Road from two lanes to four lanes (two lanes in each direction) with central median at the upgrade intersection.
• Additional through lanes for Cranbourne-Frankston Road, including bus priority lanes at the upgrade intersection.
• Dedicated turn lanes.
• New shared user pathways along Ballarto Road and Cranbourne Frankston Road intersection legs.
• Road works, earthworks, retaining wall design, street lighting, safety barriers, new shared paths, traffic signals, and associated works.
• Major culvert extension for the eastern contour drain.
• Stormwater and sub-surface drainage design.
• Traffic engineering.
• Relocation and protection of utility services.

Key features include

• The removal of CFA pile walls significantly reduced the use of reinforced concrete on the project. It also provided opportunities to activate the area by providing extensive landscaping and trees instead of four metre shotcrete walls hardscapes.
• Minimising the depth of the overall pavement thickness, significantly reducing the extent of asphalt required.
• Maximising the use of Emesh as a replacement to reinforcement with reinforced concrete footways.

BG&E has worked to bring value to the projects by maximising social procurement opportunities and capitalising on the use of recycled products – BG&E maximised RAP content in pavement designs and the use of the Reconophalt™ product.

The Western Port Highway project has enabled all four sets of traffic lights within a six kilometre stretch to be sequenced – so the road network now has increased capacity and efficiency, supporting communities with faster connection for people and freight.