the west, and Braeside Park to the east. In October 2014 a feasibility study found that a freeway standard road was not required. However, an arterial road, called the Mordialloc Bypass, in the freeway reservation was considered to be the optimal solution. If in the future any freeway was to be considered, it would have been most likely the Dingley Arterial would be upgraded to freeway standard. The 2014 State Budget included $10.6 million over 4 years to undertake detailed planning and project development. The arterial road would have probably consisted of a divided road, at-grade traffic-light controlled intersections, a speed limit of 80 km/h and bike/pedestrian paths. On 2 May 2017, the state government announced that it had allocated $300 million in the State budget to completing the Mordialloc Bypass as an arterial road, with an overpass to be constructed at the Springvale Road intersection. On 9 April 2018, the state Labor government announced an extra $75 million in funding and that the road would instead be built as a freeway with four lanes and grade separations along the entire length. The freeway was named Mordialloc Freeway during construction. In October 2018, the state government produced plans for the freeway, with a public consultation period. The state government claimed that the freeway would "improve travel times and ease congestion in Melbourne's south east" and provide "safer, more reliable journeys". The government promises the freeway will save 10 minutes off journeys during evening peak hour between the Springvale Road and the Dingley Bypass with the freeway carrying 80,000 cars daily by 2031. The freeway is set to remove up to 13,000 trucks from the nearby local and arterial roads each day. It will also improve access to Monash, Melbourne's largest employment area outside of the CBD, and to the Moorabbin Airport area. The Dingley Bypass will also have an extra 7900 cars daily due to the freeway in 2031. Noise walls are also expected along the new freeway to reduce vehicle noise near residential areas as well as a shared user path along the entire freeway. CPB/Seymour Whyte Joint Venture and McConnell Dowell/Decmil Joint Venture submitted tenders to build the freeway. The McConnell Dowell/Decmil Joint Venture was announced as the preferred contractor in 2019. Construction started in October 2019 and the freeway was opened as an extension of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway on 21 November 2021. The extension involved the