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IN THE COMMUNITY | Building Capacity for Tarneit

Project Highlight

Tarneit Road and Leakes Road Intersection Upgrade — Building Capacity for One of Australia’s Fastest-Growing Suburbs

Some infrastructure projects are reactive.  Built in response to a problem that has already become acute. Others are proactive investments, made with a clear understanding of where a community is heading and a commitment to get ahead of the curve. The Tarneit Road and Leakes Road intersection upgrade falls firmly in the second category, and we’re proud to have supplied the signage that supports it.

The Context: A Suburb Outpacing Its Infrastructure

To understand why this intersection needed upgrading, you first need to understand the extraordinary growth story of Tarneit and the broader City of Wyndham. Between 2018 and 2019 alone, Wyndham experienced the largest and fastest population growth in Victoria, and the second largest and fastest in Australia. That momentum has only continued. Wyndham accrued more than 34,500 new residents between 2019 and 2022, and its population, currently around 315,000, is predicted to reach approximately 505,000 by 2040.

Tarneit sits at the epicentre of this growth. Between 2014 and 2019, Tarneit’s population grew from 31,424 to 46,707 residents, and that growth has continued apace since. Tarneit North recorded an 18% population increase in the most recent ABS regional population data, making it one of the fastest-growing statistical areas in the country. With that volume of new residents comes a corresponding surge in vehicle trips, and arterial intersections like Tarneit Road and Leakes Road sit squarely in the path of that demand.

The Project: A $10.5 Million Priority Upgrade

Wyndham City is undertaking a $10.5 million upgrade of the Tarneit Road and Leakes Road intersection, prioritised due to its significant impact on road safety and traffic congestion, based on both thorough analysis and community feedback.

This is not a minor intersection tweak. The full scope of works includes:

  • Duplication of the intersection to add extra lanes and cater for growing traffic volumes
  • Upgrading and installing new traffic lights to improve the flow of traffic
  • Introduction of both on-road and off-road cycling lanes to enhance cyclist safety and connectivity.

The duplication of an intersection of this type requires significant civil and traffic engineering. Intersection duplication means rebuilding the carriageway geometry to accommodate additional through-lanes and turning movements in each direction; effectively reconfiguring the entire at-grade layout to match the ultimate road cross-section. New signal infrastructure involves not just new signal heads and controllers, but the associated civil works: new signal poles, underground conduit, detector loops or radar detection, pedestrian push-button facilities, and integration with the broader traffic signal network. The addition of both on-road and off-road cycling infrastructure also means new line marking, kerb and channel works, and the redesign of pedestrian crossing points to maintain safe co-existence between cyclists, pedestrians, and vehicles at a high-volume intersection.

Stage one works commenced in 2025, with full project completion targeted for mid-2026.

Part of a Much Bigger Picture: Connecting Wyndham

The Tarneit Road and Leakes Road intersection upgrade doesn’t exist in isolation. It is a key component of Wyndham City’s Connecting Wyndham program — the largest local government investment in road infrastructure in Wyndham’s history — which is delivering a coordinated network of road upgrades across the municipality to keep pace with population growth.

The broader Connecting Wyndham pipeline includes works that directly relate to the Tarneit and Leakes Road corridor. Stage Two of the wider Tarneit Road duplication project will see the full duplication of Tarneit Road between Sayers Road and Leakes Road, including upgrading three existing signalised intersections to a duplicated arrangement — though this stage remains subject to future funding. Leakes Road itself is also slated for duplication between Tarneit Road and Derrimut Road, delivering two lanes in each direction supported by upgraded traffic lights. When viewed together, these projects represent a coordinated strategy to build out the primary north-south and east-west arterial grid across Tarneit — with the Tarneit/Leakes intersection sitting at the critical node where those two corridors meet.

The Connecting Wyndham program has been recognised nationally, with Wyndham City winning the Institute of Transportation Engineers Sustainable Transport Award and receiving a highly commended result at the National Growth Areas Alliance Annual Awards.

The Broader Leakes Road Corridor

It’s also worth understanding where this intersection sits within the state-level picture. Leakes Road is a recognised east-west freight and commuter corridor stretching well beyond Wyndham’s boundaries. More than 22,000 cars and trucks travel on Leakes Road every day across the broader corridor, a figure that underscores why getting the capacity settings right at key intersections matters so much. An undersized or poorly configured intersection at Tarneit Road doesn’t just affect local residents — it creates a bottleneck that has flow-on impacts across the wider network.

Our Role — Supplying the Signage

On a live intersection upgrade in a high-growth suburban environment, signage plays a critical role at every stage of delivery. During construction, traffic management signage — manufactured to VicRoads standards and the relevant Australian Standards for temporary traffic control — keeps road workers and motorists safe as the intersection geometry changes progressively through the build. At completion, permanent regulatory, warning, and directional signage must be installed to a specification that reflects the new lane configurations, turning movements, and shared path infrastructure.

Uniform Safety Signs was engaged to supply signage for the Tarneit Road and Leakes Road intersection upgrade, and it’s a supply role we take seriously. In a growth corridor like Tarneit, where new residents are often navigating unfamiliar roads for the first time, clear and compliant signage isn’t just a regulatory requirement — it’s a genuine safety outcome. Every sign we supply is produced to specification and delivered on schedule, because in a live traffic environment, getting it wrong is not an option.

Looking Ahead

We’re proud to be part of that story, and we look forward to continuing to support Wyndham City and its construction partners as Connecting Wyndham and the projects that follow it continue to take shape.

Supplying the signs that keep a growing community moving safely.