Notorious Vic bridge gets safety upgrade

Work is finally to begin on one of Melbourne's worst accident black spots, the often-hit Montague Street bridge.

The three-metre high bridge in South Melbourne is struck almost weekly by trucks and buses. The most recent incident was on Tuesday.

The bridge already has low-height signs on the approach, a red and white hazard strip painted on it and flashing lights that are triggered by height-detection sensors.

But nevertheless vehicles have continued to crash into it.

VicRoads on Thursday said work will begin on Saturday to install a new gantry with hanging paddles that will whack any vehicle that is too high.

"You'll hit the little paddles, so you'll hear and hopefully feel that you stopped the panels, and so you'll be able to stop before you hit the bridge," VicRoads' David Teague told 3AW on Thursday.

In the most-well publicised recent incident, a tourist coach slammed into the bridge in February injuring 11 people.