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Palmers Road

Road Overbridge
Line: Geelong and Warrnambool
Distance from Melbourne: 23.000 km
Track Diagram: View
Google Maps: Satellite /  Map

Originally announced in 2004, the Palmers Road overpass was first proposed in road studies in the early 2000s.

Work on the first stage officially commenced in May 2006, running from the Princess Freeway south towards Point Cook and Boardwalk estates. The ramps from the freeway face the city, with no ramps facing the Geelong direction. Costing $28.6 million, works included the two span bridge over the freeway, a large earthen embankment hemmed in by retaining walls in between the freeway and the railway, a bridge over Skeleton Creek, and two kilometres of road. By early 2008 much of the work was complete, with the road opening in May 27, 2008.

Stage two of the road will continue north over the railway line into the new suburb of Williams Landing, ending around four kilometres away at Sayers Road. Announced in June 2010 at a cost of $24 million, the road is being constructed as part of the Williams Landing railway station project. Work started on the additional abutments in December 2011: one set to the north, and a second between the standard and broad gauge tracks. The abutments on the south side were been constructed as part of stage one. Stage two also includes the widening of the existing bridge over the freeway, to give extra traffic lanes in both directions.

In December 2011 it was proposed to name the bridge in honour of two servicemen who died at the site in 1967. The proposed name - 'Lynch Barkley Bridge' - commemorates Navy Sub Lieutenant Michael Desmond Lynch (pilot) and RAAF Flying Officer Samuel (Roy) Barkley (observer), aged 23 and 21 respectively, who were killed when their Vampire jet plane crashed near where the bridge stands today.

In 2019 as part of the Western Roads Upgrade project being delivered by Major Road Projects Victoria, Palmers Road is being upgraded from two to four lanes, with dedicated bus lane in each direction added from Wallace Avenue to Dunnings Road.

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