Ring road clears up our worst bottleneck

Alex de Vos
Geelong’s ring road has unclogged the city’s peak-hour bottleneck on Latrobe Terrace, according to Vicroads.
Project manager Tony Hedley said anecdotal evidence since the opening of the ring road’s third stage on Sunday revealed “significant” reduction in traffic on Latrobe Terrace in peak hours.
“People have told us that it’s a lot better in the mornings and evenings,” Mr Hedley said.
“We have to wait before we can do some official traffic counts, but so far, so good.”
Thousands of pedestrians walked the third stage before it officially opened to vehicle traffic at Waurn Ponds on Sunday afternoon. The addition of the third stage has allowed motorists to avoid almost 30 sets of traffic lights between Corio and Waurn Ponds.
Mr Hedley urged drivers to be patient on the ring road during a temporary 60km/h speed limit.
“While we wait for the seal to set and to avoid stone chips, we’ve set the speed limit at 60km/h but in a week it will go back up to the full 100,” he said.
Premier John Brumby said the ring road, which opened six months ahead of schedule, would slash traffic congestion, create jobs and deliver a “world-class transport network”.
“With this latest section of the ring road now open, local people and visitors can travel for almost 90 kilometres between Melbourne and this beautiful region on a safe, high-standard freeway link without seeing a single red light,” Mr Brumby said.
“The Geelong Ring Road project is vital to securing Geelong’s future and further opening up the region to Melbourne. It’s delivering the right infrastructure to support population growth, generate jobs and drive investment.”
Federal Member for Corangamite Darren Cheeseman said completion of the ring road to Waurn Ponds would deliver “immediate benefits for people living and working in the region”.
“This will change the way people and industry move in and around this region, improving freight viability, tourism and road safety,” Mr Cheeseman said.