The State Government has announced that the $375 million Mordialloc Freeway project, revealed this week, will include an off-road bike trail along the 9km length of the project.
The trail, which is planned to be set well back from the freeway, will stretch from the Dingley bypass at South Clayton to Waterways, where the new project connects to Peninsula Freeway.
The new Freeway was previously also a bypass project, but according to the government, the local community asked for a freeway instead, which has bumped the price up by $75 million to remove several intersections, thus enabling drivers to reach congestion points quicker than via a mere bypass.
The new trail will connect to the existing trail along the Dingley bypass. The City of Kingston is working on getting connections into the Dingley Village suburbs that currently lack bike connectivity.
The government release says the new trail will connect through to the Peninsula Link Trail.
That means a continual off-road route all the way from South Clayton to Baxter on the Mornington Peninsula.
However, currently the Peninsula Link Trail begins at the Patterson River, about 4km away from where the new Mordialloc Freeway Trail will end.
How the two will be connected is uncertain at this time.
Because the project abuts sensitive wetlands, it is subject to and environmental approval.
Work is planned to start in the middle of next year.