Bendigo’s Calder Freeway upgrades hit milestone as commuters face fresh detours

Bendigo commuters got a reprieve this week when the new McGrath Road interchange on the Calder Freeway opened four days ahead of schedule. The junction, linking the northern edge of the city to the Ravenswood industrial estate, went live at 6 a.m. Thursday after a final asphalt pour Wednesday night.

The early opening matters because the Major Road Projects Victoria team immediately pivoted to the next phase: eastbound lane closures between the Kangaroo Flat exit and the Mandurang Road overpass. Those closures start Monday, July 13, and are expected to last until August 21.

Delays already hitting weekday peak

Traffic data from the Department of Transport’s loop counters on High Street, near the Bendigo Marketplace, shows average weekday volumes of 34,700 vehicles, up 8 percent from the same period last year. Engineers attribute the increase to returning office workers and the ramp-up of construction at the Bendigo Health capital expansion project, which draws extra deliveries and staff traffic onto the Calder approaches.

The $112 million safety upgrade, funded through the federal government’s Roads to Recovery program and matched by the state, includes two new roundabouts at the Eaglehawk Road intersection and widening of the freeway shoulders for emergency-vehicle access. That part of the work is still slated for completion by April 2027.

Local commuters already felt the choke this week. On Wednesday afternoon, a breakdown near the Neale Street on-ramp caused a 3.5-kilometre southbound queue stretching past the McIvor Highway turnoff. Emergency services cleared the lane within 25 minutes, but the ripple effect delayed afternoon buses from La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus by up to 18 minutes, according to Transit Systems’ real-time logs.

What happens next for drivers and cyclists

The eastbound lane closures will reduce the Calder from three lanes to two between the Kangaroo Flat interchange and Mandurang Road. Signposted detours will push eastbound traffic onto the old alignment via McGuire Crescent and back onto the freeway at the Retreat Road entry. That detour adds roughly seven minutes in light traffic, but during the 4:30 p.m., 6:00 p.m. window, local traffic engineers predict a 12-to-15-minute delay.

Cyclists using the O’Keefe Rail Trail, which parallels the freeway through that stretch, will face a short path closure on Monday while crews install crash barriers. An alternative route along Sedgwick Road will be marked with temporary signage from the Bendigo Cycling Club, which has volunteered to monitor the detour’s safety for the first week.

The next major milestone, the Mandurang Road roundabout, is scheduled for an October opening, pending weather. Rain on only three of the past 20 working days has helped the contractor keep pace, but La Niña forecasts for late August could push that target into November.

For now, drivers should check the VicTraffic app before leaving. The Bendigo council’s website lists a community drop-in session at the Kangaroo Flat Leisure Centre on July 22, where project engineers will take questions about the remaining four months of construction noise and dust.