Right next to the shiny new Whitten Oval stands ‘Mount Mistake’, a massive tangle of vehicular overpasses that carries Geelong Road traffic over the railway lines at West Footscray station.
In 1926, the construction of the South Kensington to West Footscray freight line triggered the need to improve traffic flow of the existing boom gates system. The solution came down to two options: the budget option of a £27,000 overpass, or a £50,000 logical trench subway. We can see which won out, although the free football vantage point was apparently loved by the locals.
By the 1960s, Footscray’s tree-lined Avenue of Honour was paved over, making way for the over-crowded four-lane road to be replaced by a new six-lane road and bridge. By 1973, at a cost of $3,800,000, the old bridge pictured here was completely removed and replaced with pretty much what we see today.
