Two road jobs at Wallan, north of Melbourne, are running about six months ahead of schedule. The $175 million package’s centrepiece, a new full diamond interchange on the Hume Freeway at Watson Street, is more than halfway built and due to open in mid-2027, while the second project, the Northern Highway Intersection Upgrade, is also tracking six months early.
The detail comes from Inside Construction, which reported in October 2026 that the jointly funded program is being paid for with $90 million from the Australian Government and $85 million from the Victorian Government. Between them, the two projects are supporting more than 1,100 jobs during construction.
What’s actually being built
The Watson Street job delivers a full diamond interchange at the Hume Freeway, giving Wallan and the Wallan East industrial precinct a more direct link on and off the freeway instead of the current arrangement.
Up the road, the Northern Highway works add lanes in both directions, put in a second right-turn lane from Watson Street towards Wallan, and improve walking and cycling connections. That intersection is being finished first on purpose, so the extra capacity is sitting there before the interchange opens and dumps more traffic onto it.
Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King said the works would cut travel times through the town.
“These major upgrades will make it easier and safer for locals, families, businesses and freight to get around Wallan, with better connections to the Hume Freeway and less time spent in traffic,” King said.
“These major upgrades will make it easier and safer for locals, families, businesses and freight to get around Wallan, with better connections to the Hume Freeway and less time spent in traffic.”
Victorian Minister for Roads and Road Safety Paul Hamer framed it around growth in the city’s northern fringe.
“This is a significant investment in Wallan that will ease congestion, improve safety and deliver more reliable journeys as Melbourne’s north continues to grow,” Hamer said.
The work behind a diamond interchange
A full diamond gives you ramps for every movement, on and off, in both directions. For the crews that means four separate ramp alignments to form up, drain and seal, each one tying into a freeway that stays open the whole time.
That tie-in work is the reason both north-facing ramps have been shut. Anything that touches a live Hume traffic lane gets done under possession, which usually means night shifts, a traffic management crew on site before the plant turns a wheel, and a hard deadline to have the road handed back by morning. Productivity on those shifts is a fraction of what a daytime open-site run gets you, which is part of why a six-month pull-forward on a job like this is unusual enough to be news.
The Northern Highway side is more familiar territory for a civil crew: pavement widening for the extra lanes, the signal reconfiguration that a second right-turn lane forces, and the kerb, flatwork and line marking that come with the new walking and cycling links.
Why early matters for the order book
Finishing early isn’t just a press release line. It means the civil crews, plant hire and traffic management subbies on these two jobs roll off sooner than their programs said they would, and anyone relying on that work needs to know where the next one is coming from.
It also moves a date that matters to builders further down the chain. A direct freeway connection into the Wallan East industrial precinct changes how a site there stacks up for a warehouse or distribution tenant, and whoever is weighing up a shed build in that precinct has just had the access argument settled six months earlier than they’d planned for. Whether that pulls any shed work forward is the thing to watch through 2027.
What to watch
Both north-facing freeway ramps stay closed until mid-November, with motorists told to allow up to 20 minutes of extra travel time. If you’re running a ute or a float up the Hume to a job in the area, build that into the start time rather than the smoko break.
After that, the next marker is the Northern Highway intersection handover, which lands before the interchange opens in mid-2027. Both projects sit under the Victorian Government’s road program, with federal money through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (infrastructure.gov.au).
Frequently asked questions
When will the Watson Street interchange at Wallan open?
It’s due to open in mid-2027, about six months ahead of its original program, according to Inside Construction.
How much is the Wallan freeway upgrade costing?
The combined works cost $175 million, split $90 million from the Australian Government and $85 million from the Victorian Government.
How long are the Hume Freeway ramps at Watson Street closed?
Both north-facing ramps are closed until mid-November, with motorists told to allow up to 20 minutes of extra travel time.
Sourced from Inside Construction. Original article.
