The Freeway Triangle: Why Airport West Might Be Melbourne's Best-Kept Secret
The Freeway Triangle: Why Airport West Might Be Melbourne’s Best-Kept Secret
I stumbled across a discussion recently about Airport West—that oddly-named suburb wedged between three major freeways—and found myself genuinely intrigued. Not because I’m considering a move there, but because the conversation really challenged some assumptions I had about what makes a suburb liveable. The more I read, the more it struck me that Airport West represents something worth examining: a place that’s geographically isolated in a way that might actually be its greatest strength.
Let’s address the elephant in the room first. Yes, Airport West is literally surrounded by the Western Ring Road, CityLink, and the Calder Freeway. When I first heard this described as “the freeway triangle,” my immediate thought was noise and air pollution—surely living in the middle of three freeways would be a sensory nightmare? But here’s where the actual residents paint a different picture. Someone living there for three years mentioned they’ve never really been stuck getting out, typically taking no more than five minutes to hit a proper exit. And despite the geographic enclosure, there are apparently three solid non-freeway routes out of the suburb, which surprised me. The rat-running I initially imagined just doesn’t happen because, well, you can’t exit one freeway and re-enter it through Airport West. The geography prevents it.
What’s more interesting is the noise question. I expected complaints about constant roaring traffic and planes overhead, but the reality seems more nuanced. Plane noise? Minimal—aircraft don’t fly directly overhead at altitude, and even during landing approach they’re high enough that it’s barely noticeable indoors. The freeway noise? People report tuning it out after a week or two. It’s background ambience, like living near a busy railway line anywhere else in Melbourne. One long-time resident described it as “a pretty good bang for buck suburb” with surprisingly quiet streets—precisely because those massive freeways act as a barrier to incidental through-traffic. You only drive through if you live there, which creates an odd kind of peace.
The practical advantages are harder to dismiss. Westfield, DFO, and Essendon Fields nearby mean shopping’s convenient without being oppressive. LaManna’s just around the corner—and someone’s given their elite endorsement to the vanilla slices, which is the kind of detail that matters. There’s decent public transport connectivity, with tram access to Essendon station within about twenty minutes. And if you’ve got a tolls pass, you can get nearly anywhere in Melbourne relatively quickly. For someone with my IT background who spends half their time remote and the other half heading into the city for meetings, that freeway access is genuinely valuable. I can be at Crown or Flinders Street in twenty minutes without touching local roads.
Here’s what really caught my attention though: the value proposition. Someone mentioned paying $200,000 to $300,000 less for an equivalent townhouse in Airport West compared to neighboring Essendon and Niddrie. That’s a pretty significant saving for suburbs that are literally a tram ride or short drive away. In Melbourne’s property market, where value for money is increasingly mythical, that’s almost shocking. Gowenbrae nearby is apparently lovely but extraordinarily expensive—so if you want that northwestern family-suburb lifestyle without the premium price tag, Airport West seems to offer it.
I’m not going to pretend it’s perfect. The dumping problem around Bulla Road and surrounding areas sounds genuinely depressing—someone mentioned identifying rubbish and tracing it back to offenders, which speaks to a real issue of environmental disrespect. And that stretch of the Calder from the Milleara overpass through McNamara Avenue apparently looks like it hasn’t had a proper maintenance update in decades. Faded signs, rubbish everywhere, infrastructure that’s visibly decaying. It’s not just an eyesore; it reflects a broader problem with how we maintain public spaces. As someone who tends toward left-leaning frustrations about neglected infrastructure, this genuinely bothers me. It’s a terrible first impression for people coming in from the airport, and it speaks to systemic under-investment in maintenance.
The suburb’s biggest problem, honestly, seems to be its name and lack of awareness. “Airport West” doesn’t inspire excitement. It sounds industrial and vaguely ominous. But peel back that unfortunate branding and you’re looking at a fundamentally well-located suburb with genuine community (apparently lots of families and older residents who’ve been there for decades), reasonable amenities, and surprisingly good value. It’s the kind of place where a middle-aged developer with a teenage daughter might actually find good quality of life without bankrupting myself or spending two hours a day commuting.
What interests me most is how this challenges my preconceptions. I’ve been conditioned to think that proximity to infrastructure is inherently negative, but Airport West suggests the relationship is more complex. Yes, you’re near freeways—but that means you’re also buffered from incidental traffic and the noise that comes with being on a through-route. Yes, you’re between three major roads—but that also means you’ve got multiple quick exits to anywhere in Melbourne. Sometimes the thing that sounds worst on paper turns out to be exactly what you need.
The infrastructure neglect still needs addressing though. That Calder stretch is genuinely embarrassing, and it’s the kind of thing that should matter to everyone in Melbourne, whether you live there or not. We should demand better upkeep of public spaces, especially entry corridors to the city. But that’s a separate issue from whether Airport West itself is a liveable place—and based on what I’ve read, it seems to be considerably more liveable than its reputation suggests.