Elevated Loop Road

Elevated Loop Road

Melbourne Airport is addressing growing traffic congestion through the construction of an elevated loop road network, which will separate public traffic from commercial transport operators.

Airport growth in coming years will place increasing pressure on the ground transport network across the airport.

In 2016-17, 35.2 million passengers passed through the airport, with this forecast to increase to 67.8 million by 2038. Airfreight is expected to nearly double from 463,000 to 901,000 tonnes annually, while the total airport workforce is expected to increase by more than 15,000 people, to 35,000 people.

To accommodate this increase in passengers, freight demand and employees, upgraded ground transport infrastructure is required. The project will facilitate the development of an elevated road network, which will improve road transport efficiency and create additional road capacity.

Within the next five years, access improvements will target critical congestion points on the network leading into the airport, in particular Departure Drive, and the intersection of Centre Road and Terminal Drive.

The following key segments of the network will be progressively delivered.

Stage 1 – T4 Express Link

A new, direct connection from the Tullamarine Freeway into the T4 ground transport hub.

The Major Development Plan (MDP) for the T4 Express Link is currently on public exhibition. You can find the documents and submission form here.

An MDP is the planning approval document for developments at airports. Any development valued at more than $20 million, or that has a significant impact on the environment or local community, requires an MDP.

Once an MDP has been developed, it is placed on public exhibition for a period of 60 business days. It is during the public exhibition period that the community, government agencies and organisations can have their say on the proposed development.

If approved, work on the T4 Express Link will commence in 2019 and take approximately 12-15 months to complete. The project will create a more streamlined exit from the Tullamarine Freeway catering mostly to T4 domestic travellers who will no longer need to navigate around a number of roundabouts and busy intersections to make their way to the pick-up, drop-off and parking facilities.

The T4 Express Link works will largely be constructed away from the Tullamarine Freeway to reduce impacts on the travelling public. Some minor disruption is expected within the Long Term Car Park during construction, and critical works such as the lifting of concrete bridge beams will be undertaken overnight to further minimise impacts on motorists and airport passengers.

The Project will assist in boosting the capacity of the existing road system, as travel demands at Melbourne Airport are expected to increase significantly in the future. The Project is part of a long term initiative to more effectively distribute traffic at Melbourne Airport.

Have your say on the T4 Express Link MDP here.

Stage 2 – Elevated Loop Road and Forecourt

This stage includes:

• Construction of a one-way elevated road, connecting the existing T4 ramp into a reconfigured T123 ground transport hub, allowing intersection-free access to all terminal precincts
• An elevated connection from the reconfigured T123 ground transport hub directly into Departure Drive for drop-off traffic
• An elevated connection from the reconfigured T123 ground transport hub directly into Melbourne Drive for pick-up traffic.

Stage 2 of the project, which delivers the grade separation of the heavily congested Terminal Drive and Centre Road intersection, is expected to commence by 2021.

The Elevated Loop Road and Forecourt project will be subject to a separate MDP.

Combined with the T4 Express Link, it will add around 1.6km of new road to the airport’s existing network. Stage 2 is estimated to improve travel times for people driving into the airport precinct by around 5-10 minutes.

It is intended that the new elevated network will be used for drop-off, pick-up and some parking functions and will provide the opportunity to remove all future traffic off Departure Drive. This will reduce pedestrian-vehicle conflict, provide greater pedestrian priority at the departures level of T1, T2 and T3, and increase the separation distance from the terminal building. These actions build on the approach that was successfully applied in the T4 ground transport hub.

The at-grade network will continue to be used as the primary circulation network for commercial passenger vehicles (e.g. shuttle buses, coaches, rideshare and taxi), public transport vehicles, employees and freight traffic. The reconfigured access arrangements will remove a significant volume of traffic off the current at-grade road network, thereby improving the level of service for other airport users, including employees and commercial traffic.