Monash Freeway in Australian’s Victoria state will receive further funding of A$367.5m ($250m) for the addition of 36km of new lanes.

The Australian and Victorian governments will jointly fund stage two of the Monash Freeway upgrade, which aims to ease congestion in east Melbourne.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “This project is a top-order congestion-busting priority for Melbourne and we’re going to get it done.

“This project is going to be a significant boost to the local economy, which is why we’ve been working closely with Premiers like Daniel Andrews to get this work underway as quickly as possible.”

As part of the upgrade’s second stage, the number of lanes from Springvale Road and EastLink will be increased from eight to ten.

The expansion also involves increasing the number of lanes between Clyde Road and Cardinia Road from four to six.

This move is expected to cut travel time between Pakenham and Malvern by nine minutes during peak morning hours. A further two lanes will be added to O’Shea Road in each direction.

Construction works are expected to start by 2020 and become operational in the second half of 2022.

According to the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, the extension is expected to increase safety and reduce traffic for around 470,000 Monash drivers.

Andrews said: “We’ve already delivered the first stage of upgrades on the Monash and we’re getting on with the next, to get people in Melbourne’s booming south-east home safer and sooner.

“The extra lanes will slash nearly ten minutes off the morning peak hour commute into town and better connect the Monash with Eastlink.”