The latest installment of a $1 billion pipeline of road and rail projects for Melbourne’s south east aims to ease congestion for a rapidly growing region.

The infrastructure upgrades will be rolled out in Lyndhurst, Cranbourne West and Lynbrook.

Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Jacinta Allan, said that the Evans Road level crossing removal would be fast tracked, with work to build the new road bridge to begin in 2019 and be complete in 2020.

Major upgrades to the nearby intersection of Evans Road, Hallam Road and South Gippsland Highway, along with the removal of the level crossing, will enable Evans Road to reopen.

Evans Road has been closed at the level crossing since 2005, dividing the communities of Lyndhurst, Lynbrook and Cranbourne West, and forcing drivers to take lengthy detours.

When Evans Road reopens, it will reconnect communities making it up to four times faster to travel across the rail line to the South Gippsland Highway.

The level crossing removal complements several upgrades on the Cranbourne line that will boost road and rail capacity and make travel easier.

Three more level crossings located at Webster Street, Camms Road and Greens Road will go, making the Cranbourne line the first to be level crossing-free.

Site investigations are underway to duplicate 8km of single track between Dandenong and Cranbourne by 2023. Duplication will remove bottlenecks, enable trains to run every ten minutes, and pave the way for the line to be extended to Clyde.

The area will also benefit from the Thompsons Road Upgrade with 4.3km of new lanes set to open in mid-March between Dandenong – Frankston Road and Lyndhurst Boulevard along with the newly signalised Westernport Highway intersection.