Webster Street Underpass in Melbourne, Australia Opens to Traffic Two Years Ahead of Schedule

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 22, the Victorian Government of Australia announced that the new Webster Street road underpass in Dandenong, Melbourne, was officially opened to traffic. The underpass has a total length of 450 meters and connects Princes Highway-Lonsdale Street with Cheltenham and Hammond roads. The project was completed approximately two years ahead of the original schedule. With the opening of this underpass, the Pakenham, Cranbourne, and Sunbury rail corridors have formed a continuous line of about 100 kilometers free of level crossings.

The original Webster Street railway level crossing was removed in 2025. The cumulative boom gate downtime at the original crossing during the morning peak exceeded 60 minutes, with approximately 10,000 motor vehicles passing through each working day. The new underpass includes the simultaneous construction of a new intersection at Princes Highway-Lonsdale Street and the restoration of 60 parking spaces at Dandenong Station; a new pedestrian and bicycle path has also been built along Webster Street, connecting to the Dandenong Trail.

This node is part of the Melbourne Level Crossing Removal Project. The Victorian Government plans to remove a total of 110 railway level crossings by 2033, with 96 already completed. The Cranbourne and Pakenham lines had previously removed all 27 sets of crossing boom gates, and 12 stations have been built or upgraded along the lines; the two lines carry more than 83,000 passengers on weekdays, and the relevant level crossings previously served approximately 426,000 motor vehicles per day.

During the construction of the Webster Street project, supporting works including a railway bridge, drainage, and an underground pumping station were also completed. Wedoany had previously published information that the project had entered its final stage, at which time the engineering team completed the pouring of a foundation slab measuring 42 meters long, 23 meters wide, and 1.2 meters deep, using more than 1,100 cubic meters of concrete.