Calder Freeway

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The Calder Freeway and Mt. Macedon.

Calder Freeway (M79) is a freeway linking Melbourne to Bendigo in Victoria, Australia. Originally just a short spur of the Tullamarine Freeway linking to the Calder Highway in Keilor, it has been extended to Kyneton subsuming all the older Calder highway stretches. It continues beyond as Calder Highway (A79) through Bendigo to Mildura. The Victorian Government hopes to complete the duplication of the Calder Highway from Melbourne to Bendigo by the end of 2009.

The metropolitan secton of the M79 begins at the Calder Interchange, a connection with the Tullamarine Freeway (43) in Essendon North, and then progresses west. Interchanges from there include:

Keilor Rd/Fullarton Rd, Niddrie
Woodrite Rd, Airport West - Cityside ramps only
Western Ring Rd (M80), Keilor Park
Keilor Park Dr (39), Keilor Park
Green Gully Rd (40), Keilor - Cityside ramps only†
Sunshine Av (41), Taylors Lakes Cityside ramps only

†Note that the Calder Freeway is a part of metropolitain route 40 from Green Gully Rd to the Calder Interchange, as well as M79.

From this point, there are no more ramp-access interchanges in the metropolitan area.

Towns along the M79 from this point include:

Towns along the A79 include:

Malmsbury
Harcourt
Ravenswood South
Bendigo
Bridgewater on Loddon
Inglewood
Wedderburn
Charlton
Wycheproof
Culgoa
Sea Lake
Ouyen
Red Cliffs
Mildura

Beyond Bendigo, the highway is single lane in each direction, continuing through northwest Victoria crossing the Mallee Highway at Ouyen and the Sturt Highway at Mildura then through Merbein and across the Abbotsford Bridge over the Murray River to end at the Silver City Highway in Curlwaa.

See List of Melbourne freeways

Calder Freeway

See also