Springvale Junction is a particularly notorious road intersection in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. It is situated on the boundary of the suburbs of Mulgrave and Springvale.

Intersection

Springvale junction forms the intersection of four major roads, two of which terminate: *

Springvale Road State (Bell/Springvale) Highway, also known as Bell Street/Springvale Road State Highway (after its longest constituent parts), is the longest self-contained urban highway in Melbourne, Australia, linking Tullamarine Freeway and Nepean Highway ...

: along with Stud Road eight kilometres to the east and

Warrigal Road Warrigal Road is a major inner urban road in southeastern Melbourne, Australia. On weekdays, it is heavily trafficked as it runs through many major suburbs along its route, traversing some of Melbourne's eastern and south-eastern suburbs. These ...

four kilometres to the west, Springvale Road is the busiest and unsafe north-south thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs, with speed limits of 70 km/h and 80 km/h, and a six-lane dual carriageway. *

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

: along with the

Monash Freeway The Monash Freeway is a major urban freeway in Victoria, Australia, linking Melbourne's CBD to its south-eastern suburbs and beyond to the Gippsland region. It carries up to 180,000 vehicles per day and is one of Australia's busiest freeways ...

, the major thoroughfare from the south-eastern suburbs into the city, running northwest-southeast. Like Springvale road, a six-lane dual carriageway. *Police Rd/Centre Rd: two-lane single carriageway running east-west. These roads are slightly off-set from the main intersection. Each of the six main corners of the intersection has shops or shopping centres on it.

Problems

Springvale Junction is notorious for three reasons: *It is extremely slow during peak times. The combination of outbound traffic on Princes Highway, outbound traffic from Centre Road, and traffic going both directions on Springvale Road means that traffic jams are frequent, and waiting times on Princes Highway in particular are fifteen minutes or more. This can cause many Bus Routes such as the Smart Bus Route 902 to run behind timetable as there are no Bus Lanes *It is particularly confusing. With Police/Centre Rds slightly offset from the other two, Springvale Junction acts as three separate sets of traffic lights, with each road requiring two sets of right-turn lanes. In particular, south-bound Springvale Road traffic turning right into Princes Highway use the right-hand lane and turn on a right arrow; those turning right into Centre Road use the second lane from the right, advance on a green light, rather than a right arrow, and wait for a green arrow at the mid-intersection waiting point. *It is by far the worst blackspot intersection in Melbourne. With the improvements to

St Kilda Junction St Kilda Junction is a major intersection in Melbourne, Australia. It is in the suburb of St Kilda, bordering Windsor and St Kilda East, and is the meeting point of the major roads Punt Road, St Kilda Road, Dandenong Road/Queens Way/Princes ...

and Flemington Junction, Springvale Junction now has the most accidents of any intersection in Melbourne. It is also a nightmare for both traffic and safety if the traffic lights at the intersection fails.

Improvements

The shopping centres make upgrades to Springvale Junction impossible. However, alternative thoroughfares have been built to ease the congestion: *The

takes much of the city traffic off

. *The upgrade of

Westall Road Westall Road (also known as the Springvale Bypass) is a major north to south thoroughfare west of Springvale, Victoria, Australia. Route Starting at the intersection with Princes Highway in Clayton, the road head south as a six-lane, dual-car ...

directs south-bound traffic from the west around Springvale Junction, and the slowest part of Springvale Road. * EastLink should take traffic off Springvale Road. *The

Dingley Arterial The Dingley Arterial Road Project (in the Dingley Freeway reserve) is a partially completed arterial standard road which runs east to west through the southern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Although the road was designed to be a freeway for ...

, which connects with the existing Westall Road Extension attracts Dandenong traffic away from the junction. *Removing the

railway crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...

at Springvale to improve safety and punctuality with both road traffic and trains and therefore unclog Springvale Road.

References

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Intersection

Problems

Improvements

See also

References