Bridges

In 2015, the Victorian Government established the Level Crossing Removal Project, tasked with removing existing road-rail level crossings in metropolitan Melbourne. There are four main options for level crossing removals: lowering the road (road under rail), lowering the rail (rail under road), raising the rail (rail over road) and raising the road (road over rail).

As of March 2025, a total of 84 level crossings have been removed, with sites being packaged and delivered by one of five alliances. This sustained program of works has allowed the opportunity for learnings to be applied from previously completed sites. Whilst this has led to the emergence of preferred details, site-specific conditions and constraints still provides the opportunity to develop innovative solutions.

Where site-specific conditions permit, road over rail solutions have proven to be efficient and economical. These solutions minimise impacts to existing rail infrastructure, and realigning the road allows a significant amount of construction work to be completed ‘offline’ thereby minimising disruption to the road.

This paper discusses road over rail level crossing removal projects, focusing on key design considerations at the preliminary design phase, bridges, retaining walls and other structures, construction methods and programming.