Fed funds for Melbourne ring road upgrade

A 3.5km stretch of highway in Melbourne's west will undergo a $300 million upgrade and lane expansion after the federal government matched Victorian funding.

The Abbott government has committed $150 million to the M80 Ring Road project, doubling the funding set aside in the Victorian budget earlier in May.

The highway from Sunshine Avenue to the Calder Freeway will get a third lane in either direction, plus bridge safety barriers and new electronic lane and variable speed limit signs.

Assistant federal infrastructure minister Jamie Briggs said the works would also ready the city's west for a new major link - either Transurban's proposed Western Distributor or the scrapped East West Link.

"Despite the Victorian government's disastrous decision to cancel the East West Link project, the Commonwealth government stands ready to fund credible, shovel-ready infrastructure proposals in Victoria so that we can create jobs and drive economic growth," Mr Briggs said in a statement on Friday.

He also said despite the Abbott government wanting East West Link to go ahead, the Victorian government's favoured Western Distributor did have "some potential".

The ring road upgrade will create around 1000 jobs and is endorsed by Infrastructure Australia.