The first stage of one of the key missing links in the city’s arterial road network was opened in Wyndham Vale last Thursday.
Wyndham mayor Peter Maynard said the opening of this stage of Armstrong Road would provide much-needed relief for frustrated Wyndham Vale motorists.
A two-kilometre connection between Ballan and Greens roads, the $22.8 million Armstrong Road project includes a bridge over Lollypop Creek, a three-metre-wide off-road shared path and traffic signals at the Ballan Road, Greens Road and Manor Lakes Boulevard intersections.The road will also provide safe access to the new Wyndham Vale station bus interchange, a taxi rank and commuter carpark. The station is part of the $4.8 billion Regional Rail Link.
Trains are expected to start operating on the 47-kilometre railway line between West Werribee and Southern Cross station from April next year.
The road is named after Elliott Armstrong, a former British cavalry dragoon, who arrived in Werribee in 1846 and operated a ferry across the Werribee River until a bridge was completed in 1851.
Mr Armstrong operated the Bridge Inn, later renamed the Racecourse Hotel, where the first meeting of the Road District Board – a forerunner to the council – was held. The first school in Werribee was established in a shed on the grounds of the inn, where students were taught by Mr Armstrong’s daughter, Ellen.
Cr Maynard said: “This project is the first stage in creating an arterial road link to Ison Road and the Princes Freeway, meaning that residents will eventually have an alternative to Ballan Road and Werribee Street/Cottrell Street by about 2018-19.”
The project was completed jointly by the council and Regional Rail Link.
