Albanvale weird

Another suburban oddity - a large linear reserve (which, as the image below depicts, is now being developed for housing)

My first assumption was that the transmission line, which ran past my old house in St Albans, continued westwards - it actually goes along the diagonal reserve. My second assumption was that this was a site reserved for some part of the F12 freeway (since it looked kind of like it on this map - it is also ludicrously wide - 99 m at its narrowest, and 120 m where it meets Station Rd - which is twice the width of Ballarat Rd and a little more than the Western Ring Rd) (I'm not 100% sure of this not being the F12, but I'll check the 1969 Transport Plan when I am less busy). 

The truth is far more boring: it was just meant to be a regular road

I did some lurking and found a very unexciting overview of the issue - the only interesting thing is that the DHS owned some of the land (weird).

Planning Committee Meeting Minutes Meeting No. 9 Tuesday 2 February 2010 (Brimbank City Council)
The site forms part of a linear corridor that was previously owned by VicRoads to allow for the future continuation of Rockbank Middle Road through to Station Road. The subject site is currently owned by the Department of Human Services, however a agreement exists to sell the land to Demar Developments. To the west, land has been, or is planned to be, set aside within Burnside (Shire of Melton) for Rockbank Middle Road to be extended to Kororoit Creek. Land immediately to the east of the site (on the eastern side of Oakwood Road) is owned by VicRoads, and part of this land is reserved for a road.

You can see where a big road is meant to go

I guess the extension of Rockbank Middle Rd won't happen now - the 2015 Melways shows a few planned streets but no creek crossing like the 1999 Melways does. I assume houses will then be built along the creek and Taylors Rd will continue to be the workhorse in connecting Kings Park et al. with Burnside and Caroline Springs

1999 Melways - that didn't happen

2015 Melways

It is so weird seeing the 80s/90s fringe abutting a decade-old estate. This is a common theme all along the creek from Ballarat Rd, Deer Park, right through to Taylors Rd. Why didn't they just put a road here...