constructed, with a temporary connection to Melbourne-Bendigo Road (today Keilor Road) via Treadwell Road, Essendon North; the rest of the deviation to Sunbury Road was built during the 1959/60 financial year as a dual-carriageway road. Lancefield Road was progressively duplicated during the 1960s, including from Treadwell Road to north of Vaughan Street, and from Hawker Street to Parer Road. The first stage of construction on a new Tullamarine By-pass Road was completed in the 1965/66 financial year, between Mickleham Road and "the Tullamarine Jetport Terminal area" (Tullamarine Airport), with the initial section between Tullamarine Airport and Lancefield Road at the north-western corner of Essendon Airport officially opening early in 1968. From Essendon, a new section heading east from Lancefield Road at Bulla Road, over Pascoe Vale Road, to link directly with Bell Street, incorporating 2 miles of divided road and 4 miles of ramps and known at the time as Strathmore By-pass Road, began construction early in 1968, with further construction to extend the freeway south along the Moonee Ponds Creek reserve to Mount Alexander Road at Flemington Bridge, carried out by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW). All three sections - the Tullamarine By-pass Road, the Strathmore By-pass Road, and the MMBW's southern extension to Flemington Bridge - were officially opened as the Tullamarine Freeway on 3 February 1970, by Premier of Victoria Sir Henry Bolte MLA, in time for the official opening of Tullamarine Airport (now renamed Melbourne Airport) in mid-1970; this new section replaced Mount Alexander Road as the main route to the city. In 1974, the section constructed by the MMBW was transferred to be under the direct responsibility of the Country Roads Board; the Board's declaration of the Tullamarine Freeway was extended to Flemington Bridge as a direct result. In 1979, the section of Lancefield Road running along the western edge of Essendon Airport was upgraded to freeway standard, with the elimination of all at-grade intersections (at English and Vaughan Streets, and an access road to Matthews Avenue near Parer Road), and the opening of a grade-separated, diamond-interchange with English Street, effectively completing the freeway. With its completion, city-bound heavy vehicles from Hume Highway were diverted here via Pascoe Vale Road. In the 1990s, the completion of the Western Ring Road increased traffic tremendously. It was only relieved by the completion of CityLink in 1999, widening the freeway to 8 lanes (two of