Springvale Junction is a road intersection in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is situated on the boundary of the suburbs of Mulgrave and Springvale. Springvale junction forms the intersection of four major roads, two of which terminate: * Springvale Road: 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 most 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), 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 Australi ...

, the major thoroughfare from the south-eastern suburbs into the city, running northwest-southeast. Like Springvale Road, it is a six-lane dual carriageway. *Police Road/Centre Road: 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.

Notoriety

Springvale Junction is notorious for several 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

SmartBus SmartBus is a network of bus services in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Overseen by Public Transport Victoria, the network comprises nine key cross-town and orbital bus routes around Melbourne. Key aspects of the service include more freque ...

Route 902, to run behind timetable as there are no

bus lanes A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) hav ...

. In addition, it has a confusing design. With Police/Centre Roads 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. In terms of safety, 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/Princ ...

and Flemington Junction, Springvale Junction now has the most accidents of any intersection in Melbourne.

Improvements

The shopping centres make upgrades to Springvale Junction harder to implement, with any potential grade separation of the Princes Highway needing significant land acquisitions. However, alternative thoroughfares have been built to ease the congestion on the

, such as the

and EastLink.

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 ...

also directs south-bound traffic from the west around Springvale Junction, and the slowest part of Springvale Road. In addition, the Dingley Arterial, which connects with the existing Westall Road, attracts Dandenong traffic away from the junction. Removal of 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 or the road etc. crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The t ...

at Springvale Road as part of the LXRP has also reduced delays.

Consultation of community

In 2016, VicRoads consulted the community on how best to improve the intersection, with a survey conducted as to what community members would find acceptable. Popular potential improvements (>50% of those surveyed would find it good or acceptable): * Grade separation of the Princes Highway * Prohibiting unsafe right turns, such as from Centre Road onto Princes Highway Unpopular potential improvements (<50% of those surveyed would find it good or acceptable):: * Redirecting right turns with U-turns, such as the right turn from Springvale Road onto Princes Highway * Speed limit reductions * Installing a Roundabout * Closing Centre Road and Police Road to the intersection

References

{{coord, 37.932732, S, 145.156088, E, region:AU_type:landmark_scale:5000, display=title Streets in Melbourne

Notoriety

Improvements

Consultation of community

See also

References