The 9.3km Deer Park Bypass is a four lane freeway which connects the Western Highway at Caroline Springs to the Western Ring Road at Sunshine West. The Bypass, now known as the M8 Western Freeway is located on the sparse flat volcanic plains of western Melbourne. This is a rapidly changing landscape of new residential and industrial estates which is transforming the ever expanding fringe of Melbourne. A fundamental aim of the design has been to create a distinct visual identity for the Bypass that integrates freeway architecture into the local landscape – a marking of the land. Noise walls have been designed as sculptural elements of ambiguous scale embedded into the landform. The walls have strong shadowed reptilian forms which stretch along road edge. Concrete retaining walls and bridge abutments have been designed as vertical folded planes of strong colour to mark the manmade landscape. The effect is striking as flashes of orange colour highlight the various bridge and wall locations as part of the unfolding road journey.