Ideas for improving the Hume Highway

[MisterMarcus]

My recent drive to Queensland, as well as semi-regular trips to Canberra from Melbourne, got me thinking about what is still needed for the Hume. Obviously, it is a very good quality road, but there is still work that needs to be done. 

Below is a list of what I think should be done for the Hume in the not-too-distant future, working from south to north. Obviously there's an element of wish-list/fantasy here, but hopefully it can generate some interesting discussion.

1) Widening Craigieburn section to 3 lanes each direction, from the WRR to Craigieburn Road. Already this section has a decent amount of traffic on it, and will only grow as the housing boom in the north explodes.

2) Interchange at O'Herns Road, Epping North. Apparently this is in the pipeline. Would be a benefit especially for southbound traffic, which has no exits between north of Craigieburn and Cooper Street.

3) Full grade separation Kalkallo to Beveridge. Apparently all the plans are in place, so I am not sure why this has not been done. Longer term, some new interchange(s) incorporated into the future housing developments north of Kalkallo.

4) Interchange at Avenel. From memory, there are several intersections close together here, which could all be eliminated by a single interchange. Can't remember if this is still a speed-reduced intersection.

5) New Interchange and "western entrance" to Wodonga at Wodonga West (Mckoy St/Old Barnawartha Road): This has had a speed limit reduction, so clearly this should be in line for an upgrade. With the continued growth of Wodonga westwards, it would provide new access to the Uni, TAFE, and West Wodonga, without going into Melbourne Road and doubling back.

6) Interchange with the Lachlan Valley Way at Yass: Close to Yass township, and a reasonably significant road. Would benefit from a full interchange. 

7) Upgrading Federal Highway interchange. A complete no-brainer. No idea why this hasn't been done long before now.

8) A new interchange somewhere between Picton and Narellan. Sydney is growing out southwards, yet anyone who needs to go to southern Campbelltown or Camden has to go in to Narellan Road and double back, or exit the highway about 15km before their destination. They need to put a new interchange servicing this area somewhere in there. 

9) Widening to three lanes from Picton Road towards Sydney. Again, this section seems to have significant traffic for only 2 lanes. 

Any other frequent users have any more suggestions? Or want to shoot my suggestions down! :-( 

[Richard Ho]

Yeah I think it would be good to put a new interchange on the Hume where Menangle Rd crosses the M31 near Menangle Park. Currently there is 23km of monotonous freeway without exits between Narellan Rd (A9/B69) and Picton Rd (B88).

[Choko]

The Greater Macarthur Preliminary Land Release Strategy has earmarked new interchanges on the Hume Hwy between Narellan and Picton Roads - map can be found here. Wilton Junction indicative masterplan can be found here.  

[davis]

huh, that's a significant redevelopment of the Picton Road interchange, making it free-flowing for Sydney-Wollongong traffic. It's very unusual in NSW to implement such interchange improvements.

[Aevion]

Hated that seemingly never-ending section of road when I was little, still hate it now. It really is monotonous.

[Nihat]

all nice suggestions that i have thought of myself recently. it is ridiculous that there is those 2 low standard intersections on the hume in victoria leading to the very short section of 80km. i have emailed the politicans. the usual reply. i dont think it applies at avenel....yet.

clearly there does need to be another interchange on the hume between picton and campbelltown. the detour is long if there is an accident, this is why they have added those "D" signs.

this thought did enter my mind with the northconnex project - no interchanges between the longest road tunnels in australia. there is a shoulder for breakdowns but it will be a long wait if something happens in the tunnels.

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[Richard Ho]

On Friday, 23 October 2015 21:16:39 UTC+11, Nihat wrote:

all nice suggestions that i have thought of myself recently. it is ridiculous that there is those 2 low standard intersections on the hume in victoria leading to the very short section of 80km. i have emailed the politicans. the usual reply. i dont think it applies at avenel....yet.

clearly there does need to be another interchange on the hume between picton and campbelltown. the detour is long if there is an accident, this is why they have added those "D" signs.

this thought did enter my mind with the northconnex project - no interchanges between the longest road tunnels in australia. there is a shoulder for breakdowns but it will be a long wait if something happens in the tunnels.

I guess they could have included some access ramps on the Northconnex at Pennant Hills or Thornleigh, but that's a bit off-topic to this discussion. 

[Csanad Csutoros]

Hi everyone. Surely the grade separation of Donnybrook Road in 2008 was at least a partially implicit admission that the southbound carriageway between there and Beveridge requires an upgrade to separate it from local roads and driveways. In addition as consensus has it Avenel and Old Baranawartha intersections desperately need an upgrade as does the intersection with Lachlan Valley Way which I know from personal experience can get a bit hairy (BEFORE an unfortunate incident haspens). People talk of "killer" roads when really all that is needed is to drive according to the prevailing conditions. Intersections though are different...when trying to turn right  (even on to dual carriageway ) with a steady stream of seemingly never ending heavy vehicles approaching from either direction and impatient drivers waiting behind sometimes even the most experienced drivers can succumb to unreasonable hazard levels. With that in mind I would even (ideally if not realistically ) upgrade the intersections at Woomargama and as previously mentioned, the movements for heading to Canberra when heading east at the Federal Highway. Just east of there near the start of the Goulburn bypass at Run O' Waters Creek (?) are also a couple of trees perilously close to the southbound road alignment which really should be removed. Finally it should be an objective to make the Hume a totally "M" standard road from Bundoora to Prestons (including the removal of all at-grade intersections) a la the Princes Highway between Laverton and Corio or the Pacific Highway between Nerang and Beenleigh with a speed limit of 130 for non heavy vehicles and full licence holders in the medium term (this last bit is probably entering the realms of fantasy land admittedly ). C

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[Mark Sanders]

Having travelled the Hume quite often (in Victoria anyway) I agree with the majority of your upgrades in that state, however the 3 lanes coming out of Melbourne could really continue all the way to Wallan, as this section is already quite busy, especially in holiday times, and with Wallan now being included in the future expansion of Melbourne, traffic is going to only get heavier, as Wallan is already seeing a lot of commuter growth. One possible reason for the yet to be completed section of the Hume between Kalkallo and Beveridge to freeway standard is there is a proposed ring road which is due to start in around 2018, this will meet the Hume at roughly where the truck parking areas are midway between the two, and looking at Melway, there are proposed service roads on both sides of the freeway to handle local traffic, however there doesn't seem to be any additional interchanges included in the plans. I'm guessing all this will be done together at some point. Avenel is yet to receive a speed reduction, however West Wodonga and Kalkallo (southbound only) now have 80km/h speed limits on them.

[Brendan Terrett]

I've only driven the Hume from Sydney to Melbourne twice. With regards to points 7, 8 and 9 - yes, should be done!

7 - I suppose this is probably on a lower priority list at the RMS, considering the low volume of traffic which would currently use that movement.

8 - No brainer, especially with the new developments coming along in that area. I've driven down to Menangle Park a few times and found it puzzling that there was no access to the Hume from there.

9 - Yes, definitely.

The only real thing I remember about the Victorian section was how traffic seemed to go from very light to quite congested going south past Wallan. I also remember that country Victorian drivers were excellent, courteous, kept safe distances, etc.

Melbourne drivers, however - never have I witnessed more disgraceful, aggressive driving. I drove the entire length of the Monash Freeway into Melbourne during the PM peak (logjam) and I did not see one car use their indicators properly! Courtesy was non-existent for people who did use their indicators (i.e. me) to try and get into another lane, drivers even tooting the bloody horn if I dared attempt a lane change in front of them while traffic was at a standstill. I am 100% certain that I made hook turns in the CBD correctly, and yet I was being honked at by other cars for not turning while the cross street lights were still red - with one of them overtaking me on the right and nearly getting plowed by a tram! It truly did my head in. Perhaps it was the NSW licence plate on my car.

Forget spending hundreds of millions on gory TV ads whilst using secret speed cameras to book people doing 3km/h over - there's some serious psychological shit they need to sort out down there.

[Mark Sanders]

Mate I drive in Melbourne all the time and the drivers down there are terrible, you make one slight mistake like get in a wrong lane or something and you get honked! Count your lucky stars that's all you got! Follow 'Limbsy' on Youtube if you want to find out more, he has a lot of videos take from his dashcam of the things he sees daily. Even while doing the speed limit you get tailgated or sometimes flashed/honked! I was surprised when I drove in Sydney for the first time a few years ago, how relaxed and courteous the drivers were compared to Melbourne's.

[Musa Hodzic]

Thanks for the info Choco.

On 20 October 2015 at 09:56, Choko <cromp...@gmail.com> wrote:

The Greater Macarthur Preliminary Land Release Strategy has earmarked new interchanges on the Hume Hwy between Narellan and Picton Roads - map can be found here. Wilton Junction indicative masterplan can be found here.  

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[Musa Hodzic]

Hopefully the new traffic lights that are going in at the southbound exit ramps aren't going to cause a lot of traffic build up on the M31.

[Brendan Terrett]

That document has the F word in it. Completely inappropriate and does not comply with the RMS' current guidelines.

[Sam Laybutt]

Interesting road layout for Wilton Junction, particularly the treatment of Picton Road. Local access bridges (great) and signalised intersections at ~2km spacings, plus a direct east-to-north on-ramp.  Is this stuff endorsed by RMS or is this all just in the concept stage?

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Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 15:56:43 -0700
From: cromp...@gmail.com
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Re: Ideas for improving the Hume Highway

The Greater Macarthur Preliminary Land Release Strategy has earmarked new interchanges on the Hume Hwy between Narellan and Picton Roads - map can be found here. Wilton Junction indicative masterplan can be found here.  

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[Paul Rands]

You're right. Most Melbourne drivers are psychos.

I couldn't get back to Canberra fast enough, and this city has some total shockers but nothing quite as bad as Melbourne. 

Sent from my Samsung GALAXY S5

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