A baby girl has entered the world in a hurry on the side of one of Melbourne’s busiest freeways.

The parents were driving along the Westgate Freeway about 9:00pm on Saturday when they realised they would not get to the hospital in time for the birth.

They pulled over near Altona North, just before the Westgate Bridge, and the mother gave birth as traffic flew by at 100 kilometres per hour.

Paramedic Jon Hinton, who arrived soon after the birth, said the baby and parents were doing well after such a speedy arrival.

“They were a bit surprised and were taken short. Obviously they were doing the right thing by trying to get to hospital but I think they left their run a bit late,” he said.

“It wasn’t their first baby and sometimes the second baby comes a bit quicker.”

Mr Hinton said it was lucky paramedics arrived when they did.

“I’ve turned up and found that baby has been born, needed to check up on baby a little, because youngster was not breathing quite so well as I’d have liked, but she’s well now,” he said.

Both mum and baby had a slightly calmer ride to hospital in an ambulance.