Projects

Canterbury Road Improvements Waterloo Street to Sunset Drive

We’re improving safety, connectivity and traffic flow at the Canterbury Road and Waterloo Street, Great Ryrie Street and Sunset Drive intersections in Heathmont.

Project update - September 2024

In preparation for upcoming improvement works, we need to relocate utility services at the intersection of Canterbury Road and Waterloo Street.

Telecommunication service relocation works have been completed.

Further utility service relocation works will take place prior to and/or during the major roadworks. We’re working closely with utility service providers to complete these complex service relocation works safely and efficiently.

The major roadworks will follow and are expected to be completed by late-2025. We’ll be in touch with more information about construction before the improvement works start.

What we're doing

Opening the median at Waterloo Street and installing new traffic lights and pedestrian crossings.
Installing dedicated right turn lanes into and out of Waterloo Street.
Removing the U-turn from Canterbury Road travelling eastwards at Great Ryrie Street.
Adding new line markings and making changes to the traffic light operation on Great Ryrie Street allowing right turns from both lanes.
Making the right turn from Canterbury Road into Great Ryrie Street fully controlled.
Installing a new bus stop and indented bus lane with hook turn on Canterbury Road on the south side of the Great Ryrie Street intersection.
Removing the right turn in and out of Sunset Drive.
Upgrading the existing bus stop at Great Ryrie St/Canterbury Rd by installing a new rear-facing bus shelter, concrete base and pedestrian tactiles.

Artist’s impressions

Click on the green buttons below to see the artist’s impressions of the improvements as before and after sliders.

Before and After of Canterbury Road

Before and After of Sunset Drive and Canterbury Road intersection

Before and After of Waterloo Street and Canterbury Road intersection

Map of Canterbury road, Waterloo street and Sunset drive upgrade.

Image description: Map showing the improvements being made to the Canterbury Road intersections with Waterloo Street, Great Ryrie Street and Sunset Drive. A blue traffic light symbol positioned in the middle of the opened intersection of Canterbury Road and Waterloo Street shows the new traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. Line markings show the new pedestrian crossing across Canterbury Road on the west side of Waterloo Street, and another across Waterloo Street. Left and right arrow line markings on Waterloo Street show the separate left and right lanes to exit Waterloo Street. A narrowed median on Canterbury Road and right arrow line markings show the new dedicated right turn lane into Waterloo Street from Canterbury Road. The median on Canterbury Road on the west side of the intersection with Great Ryrie Street is widened and a no U-turn symbol shows that the existing U-turn lane will be removed and U-turns will no longer be permitted here. Arrow line markings on Great Ryrie Street show that right turns will be permitted from both lanes. A blue bus symbol and line markings on Canterbury Road on the south side of the Great Ryrie Street intersection show the new bus stop and indented bus lane being installed. A no right turn symbol in the median of Canterbury Road and Sunset Drive shows that right turns in and out of Sunset Drive will no longer be permitted. An orange traffic light symbol at the Great Ryrie Street intersection and east of Sunset Drive show the existing traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. Orange bus symbols show the existing bus stops on Great Ryrie Street and Canterbury Road east of Great Ryrie Street.

Project benefits

This project will:

improve access for vehicles to and from Waterloo Street
improve pedestrian safety and connectivity near Waterloo Street
keep traffic flowing with the new traffic lights linked with nearby traffic lights to optimise efficiency
provide better public transport connectivity in the area
provide safer access to and from side roads.

Bus stop changes

We will convert the existing school bus stop bay on Canterbury Road on the south side of the Great Ryrie Street intersection into a dedicated bus stop for Route 679. We will extend the indented bus lane, construct a new bus shelter, and provide a hook turn for buses to turn into Great Ryrie Street safely.

This new bus stop will provide better connectivity for public transport users, particularly for commuters who live and work south of Canterbury Road.

We will also improve the existing Great Ryrie St/Canterbury Rd bus stop by installing a new rear-facing bus shelter, concrete base and pedestrian tactiles. These improvements will provide better accessibility for public transport users.

Speed limit change on Canterbury Road

The speed limit on Canterbury Road from west of Waterloo Street towards Sunset Drive will be reduced from 70km/h to 60km/h in both directions to support the safe operation of the new traffic lights at Waterloo Street. This will provide a consistent speed limit in both directions of this section of Canterbury Road to support the safety, connectivity and traffic flow improvements being made.

The speed change will be implemented as part of our improvement works and we’ll keep the community informed when the speed change will become active.

The speed limit on Canterbury Road from approximately 150 metres west of Waterloo Street towards Wantirna Road will remain as 70km/h.

Please see map below for further details.

Map of Canterbury road improvements and Waterloo Sunset.

Image description: Map of the speed limit change on Canterbury Road in Heathmont that will be implemented as part of the improvement project. Four 60 symbols on Canterbury Road and solid green lines show where the new 60km/h speed limit zone will be implemented, with dashed green lines showing where the existing 60km/h speed limit zone is. These show that from approximately 150 metres west of Waterloo Street towards Sunset Drive, the speed limit will be reduced from 70km/h to 60km/h in both directions to support the new traffic lights and provide a consistent speed limit in this section of Canterbury Road. Four 70 symbols show that the speed limit on Canterbury Road from approximately 150 metres west of Waterloo Street towards Wantirna Road will remain as 70km/h.

Parking changes

To help keep traffic moving and to ensure the safety of drivers, we will be making changes to street parking surrounding the intersection of Canterbury Road and Waterloo Street.

New parking restrictions will be in place to help traffic flow smoothly through the area:

A new no stopping at any time zone will be in place on the north side of Canterbury Road between Great Ryrie Street and 241 Canterbury Road.
We’ll be changing the existing time based no stopping zone in front of Heathmont Reserve to be no stopping at any time.
A new no stopping at any time zone will be in place along Waterloo Street on the Heathmont Presbyterian Church side from the intersection with Canterbury Road to the church’s southern driveway entrance.

Environment

We share the value that the local community places on the environment. To make these important improvements, we need to trim some trees, and remove twenty-one planted trees and shrubs at the intersection of Canterbury Road and Waterloo Street. We’ve also identified two additional planted trees that may need to be trimmed or removed. We’re working with designers and arborists to investigate this, and we’ll keep the community updated.

Prior to any vegetation removal, we investigate and work with designers to try to retain existing trees and vegetation, balancing this with the critical need to improve road safety.

We’re working with Council to offset the tree removals, with trees and vegetation to be replanted in the local area. The project area on Canterbury Road is not suitable for replanting due to safety risks, so replanting will be done outside of the project area by Council.

Project background

Canterbury Road is a key corridor in Melbourne’s east. At the intersection of Great Ryrie Street and Sunset Drive there has been a significant crash history and in the ten-year period between 2012 and 2022 there have been multiple crashes, some of which resulted in serious injuries.