Road delays for holidaymakers leaving Melb

Holidaymakers hitting the road in Melbourne are set to encounter delays leaving the city that could add hours to their travel.

Roadworks on almost every major arterial route out of the city including the West Gate freeway, the Citylink tollway and the Monash freeway are each expected to add up to an hour to trips from Boxing Day.

It's a "record amount" of roadworks, according to the Department of Transport, with more people taking holidays within Victoria due to limits on interstate and overseas travel also expected to lead to bottlenecks.

On the West Gate Bridge, three out of five outbound lanes will be closed, with people heading to the Surf Coast told to detour through Footscray.

There will also be hold-ups for people heading to Gippsland and holiday spots in the state's east.

On the Monash freeway in the city's southeast, crews are laying 72,000 tonnes of asphalt, which will see lanes closed and the road closed at night.

To the northeast, several lanes of Main Road will be closed at Eltham from January 4 until mid-February.

Work on the Geelong Road and M80 Ring Road will begin on January 11, with the work to widen the West Gate to close Williamstown Road.

The Transport Department's Nick Foa says motorists should plan for delays.

"While we make progress on major road and rail projects, there will be disruptions across the network," he said.