Summary
Length- 18km
Route- From the Eastern Freeway (M3) at Collingwood, underneath the northern CBD, to the Citylink (SR43) at Parkville, then to the Western Ring Road (M80) at Sunshine West
Toll- $5.50 for cars (indicative)
Original Cost- Stage 1- $6.8 billion, Entire project- $15-17 billion
Status- Cancelled indefinitely
The East-West Link was a proposed freeway that would have linked the Eastern Freeway at Collingwood to the Citylink and Western Ring Road. The route, much of which would have been a tunnel, was to bust the congestion motorists face at the eastern end of the Eastern Freeway at Alexandra Parade and Hoddle Street, provide a second east-west crossing to the West Gate Bridge and alleviate congestion within the CBD. It wasn’t without its problems, however; at an overall cost of $15-17 billion, it would have been the most expensive road project in the nation’s history. The project, hugely unpopular with the public, soon became the most contentious topic of the 2014 Victorian State election, with Labor, the opposition, against and Liberal for. This article will explore the history of the route up until Labor cancelled the project, the benefits the route would have brought, its problems, and the uncertain future of the project.
History
The Eastern Freeway, of which incorporated the currently proposed East West Link, was identified as a route from Ringwood at the Scoresby Freeway (now the Eastlink) to the Tullamarine Freeway near the CBD (now Citylink). The Eastern Freeway west of Hoddle Street (which would form part of the East West Link) was officially cancelled by the Hamer government in 1973 due to its unpopularity, along with another 240km of freeways.
In 1997 the entire Eastern Freeway to its current extent was completed. On western end of the freeway, traffic was dumped onto Springvale Road at Donvale; a problem solved by the construction of the Eastlink tollway. On its eastern end, traffic was especially bad; the intersection at Alexandra Parade and Hoddle Street was, and still is, known for long traffic queues, cars reduced to a crawl.
The Eddington Transport Report, conducted by Sir Rod Eddington, was released in April 2008. The report studied the need for more east-west transport corridors within Melbourne, and recommended an east-west road link between the Eastern Freeway, Citylink, and possibly the Western Ring Road. At the time, the West Gate Bridge was carrying 165 000 vehicles a day, with surrounding roads including Smithfield Road and Dynon Rd carrying 39 000 and 35 000 vehicles respectively.
The report detailed how an alternative route to the heavily congested West Gate Bridge was needed, along with the lack of east-west links within Melbourne; those in this corridor are disconnected local roads, incapable of carrying a slowly increasing amount of traffic. The document is available here.
In response to this study, the Victorian Government released the Victorian Transport Plan in December 2008, accepting the proposal west of the Citylink as both an alternate route to the West Gate Bridge, and improving access to the Port of Melbourne. The report however rejected the extension of the Eastern Freeway to the Citylink. At a projected cost of $2.5 billion, the road was dubbed the Westlink.
This plan was subsequently dumped shortly after Ted Baillieu came to power in 2010, its proposals facing a re-evaluation. Two months after he succeeded Ted Baillieu as Premier on the 7th May 2013, Denis Napthine and treasurer Michael O’Brian announced funding for the freeway, along the corridor outlined in the Eddington Transport Report, as part of the state budget. $294 million was allocated over three years for the first stage of the proposed tunnel between the Eastern Freeway and Citylink, with the first stage to cost $6-8 billion.
The original business case for the project was released in June 2013, outlining Stage 1 as the link between the Citylink and Eastern Freeway, the Western Stage as a link from Citylink to the Western Ring Road, and the Port Connection as a freeway between the Western portion of the route and the Port of Melbourne. The business case is available here.
In July 2013 residents of Collingwood were first told that their houses may be compulsorily acquired. The project begun to attract major controversy within the public as time progressed, especially considering the hefty price tag on the toll road.
The three consortiums bidding for construction of the freeway were released in September 2013; they were the EastWest Connect, Inner Link Group and Momentum Infrastructure Consortiums. It was also in this month that the first regular protests begun at drilling sites for the project, of which were slowly garnering support, continuing into 2014.
Flaws of the project were slowly coming to light, with claims that the planning phase had created deceptive claims of the benefits of the freeway. The government was firm, however, that the route would help bust congestion within the inner city, providing an east-west freeway corridor that would provide an alternate route to the West Gate Bridge.
Even so, the Yarra and Moreland Councils filed a legal challenge against the approval of the project’s design, citing that the plans had no basis to have been approved by the planning ministry. More importantly, the entire business case was yet to be released, along with other key information about the project, attracting even more criticism for the road.
The government announced that the EastWest Connect Consortium had won the contract to build the road on September 11 2014. It was this day that current opposition leader Daniel Andrews announced his intentions to scrap the entire $15-17 billion East-West Link project if he were to come into power at the election in November.
As the race to the state election began, the East-West Link became the most contentious point of the entire election campaign, with two clear sides; Liberal for the project, Labor against it. Much of the public was against the project, as is the case with many freeways in Australia, popular arguments being that the road would encourage road use, that most motorists on the Eastern Freeway were not trying to get across the CBD to the Citylink, rather into the CBD, and that more money should be spent on public transport.
Arguments for the road were that the freeway would help relieve the West Gate Bridge and M1 corridor, that it would enhance connectivity between the freeway network and the Port of Melbourne, and at the freeway was a top priority for Melbourne’s infrastructure.
With the contracts already signed and construction of the road almost underway, it was clear that great sums of compensation would be required if the Labor Government was elected and scrapped the project. Andrews remained steadfast, however, determined to cancel the entire road.
In the lead-up to the election, it was clear that the public was most focused on the East-West Link. On the 29th November 2014, the Victorians headed to the polls to vote in the next party for the state, and determine the future of the East-West Link.
Labor won the election with 47 seats, Liberal at 38, marking the first time in over 60 years that a party in Victoria had only been in office for one-term. Daniel Andrews confirmed that the East-West Link would be cancelled the following day, at a cost of $420 million to taxpayers (a number which may be very well higher).
The Debate-
Most certainly the more widely expressed view for the East-West Link is against the freeway. However arguments exist on both sides in deciding whether or not this road should have been built. This portion of the article will try to explore both these sides, while not establishing which one is in fact correct.
Please don't take any of this personally; I live in Sydney and hence I have no reason to be biased either way towards the project. It's just an interest of mine (in case you didn't realise by now).
For-
Most certainly, the East-West Link should have been built and not cancelled by Labor. The freeway would most certainly have alleviated congestion not only along CBD routes, but more importantly on the congested West Gate Bridge. The travel of freight would have been significantly improved due to the planned port connection. It is highly likely that Labor was playing politics when it chose to not only go against the project, but then cancel it when elected. The freeway has been identified as a key need for decades, a recommendation of many studies, and it will be built in the future; the later the construction, the higher the cost.
As mentioned above, the West Gate Bridge was 165 000 vehicles a day in 2008, a number which is slowly rising. As the only east-west freeway crossing of the Yarra River, the corridor will soon be operating at complete capacity. Construction of the East-West Link, most importantly west of the Citylink, would have solved this problem by providing an alternative to the bridge. Also, congestion on the Eastern Freeway in Collingwood would have been at least partially alleviated by the construction of the freeway, taking out through traffic from Alexandra Parade and surrounding roads and placing it underground.
Certainly, this does not mean that the East-West Link is the only solution to congestion within Melbourne. Both public transport and new roads should be built in conjunction with each other to help ease choke points within the CBD. In a city like Sydney, both public transport and road projects are being built, showing a government not biased to one side or the other. Unfortunately, the growing consensus between many Australians is that ''we're too good for cars'' and that trains are the way of the future. What people do seem to forget is that there is congestion on these roads for a reason; many people still use cars, and building more public transport is not the only solution in alleviating traffic.
Even if people are made to use public transport (which will, too, become congested, if everyone begins using it), there is still the issue of freight movements. The port connection which was to be built as part of this project would have greatly eased congestion with freight into and out of the port.
For months before the election Daniel Andrews backed or was neutral to the East-West Link project. Only when he and his party knew that the public was so against the freeway did he choose to go against it. This is a common stance by many parties, and certainly there may be other reasons as to why he chose only two months prior to election to go against, but in the end he was playing politics, most importantly costing the Victorian taxpayers in upwards of $420 million. This is insane; half a million to not build a road.
These reasons are substantial proof that the road should have been built and should still be built. It was callous and rash of Andrews to cancel the project, something he should regret having done. Traffic won't get better; only worse.
Against-
It is quite clear that the East-West Link should never be built for several key reasons. First of all, most motorists on the Eastern Freeway are trying to get into only the CBD and not across it. Secondly, the project makes no economic sense as a long-term investment by the Victorian Government. Furthermore, it is quite clear that the Victorian Government should be spending more money on public transport, rather than encouraging car use through the building of another freeway.
Think of the road from the perspective of the average Melbourne motorist, commuting into the CBD. Currently, the Eastern Freeway ends abruptly, yet at the very edge of the CBD. While it is acknowledged that there is great congestion at the end of the freeway, this tunnel would have done nothing to alleviate the long traffic queues. Only a minimal number of vehicles would have been taken off Hoddle Street and Alexandra Parade, with most continuing into the CBD instead. Traffic figures show that in the AM peak that this is true for 54% of traffic exiting the Eastern Freeway, with the remainder dispersed all around Melbourne, with merely 13% heading towards Footscray near the Citylink.
Economically, this project makes no sense. In fact, the aforementioned Eddington Report states clearly that only 45c would be made back for every $1 spent on the road. This road would have cost $15-17 billion to build; had this ratio become a reality, major losses would most certainly have been recorded.
Public transport should be a more major priority in the eyes of the government. Railway lines including the Doncaster railway line, designed to run along the median of the Eastern Freeway, and the Melbourne Metro through Melbourne CBD, should be taking higher priority. Construction of more public transport links will in fact serve the same purpose as the East-West Link, by taking cars of roads and putting people into trains. By not doing so, and constructing the East-West Link, more people will be encouraged to use their cars; built it, and they will come; which will exacerbate the effects of congestion.
To add another argument, it cannot be affirmed that, had the road been built, it would not have been another economic disaster, following the Clem7 in Brisbane (read more here) and the Cross City Tunnel in Sydney. Both the Clem7 and CCT cross underneath their respective CBDs, with expensive construction price tags and tolls. More compelling, however, is that both roads are severely underused, with motorists less concerned about bypassing the CBD, instead using CBD streets. Chances are that this would have also occurred on the East-West Link; if so, it would have been the fifth PPP (Public-Private Partnership) failure in the construction of roads in Australia.
These arguments are solid evidence as to why the East-West Link should never be built, and as to why it was a smart choice by the Andrews government to cancel the project.
Future
The Andrews government has proposed the construction of the Western Distributor, which will do nothing in terms of alleviating congestion on the Eastern Freeway. However I must note that it will help (or at least aims to) ease congestion on the West Gate Bridge, as it provides a second underground crossing of the Yarra River.
The East-West Link will probably never be built; roads are becoming less of a priority as each successive government takes place, in favour of ''hospitals, schools and public transport'', five words you will hear in every political campaign. It is important to note that the NorthConnex in Sydney had been proposed for many years before finally starting construction in 2015. This also applies to the WestConnex, which also begun in 2015-16.
Roads are certainly not what the public wants, and it isn't like they are the only solution either; public transport on its own will not work however. We need a good system that incorporates both of these systems for an economy to grow.
The East West Link has entered a series of roads that will never be built, alongside such cancelled roads as the Eastern Freeway through Bondi in Sydney, and most of the freeways in Adelaide. It is hard to tell whether the route would have been a success, and of course, since the road was never built, we shall never know.
You would most likely have made up your mind about what you think of the East-West Link by now. Please fill out the survey at the bottom which will ask you whether you believe the road should be built or not, and why. If you have any comments leave them under the survey.
Interchanges- (read the guide here)
I attemped to make this accurate, however the design I was following here in Youtube was only a rough design. Naturally if the road is ever built, which could be never, its design will most likely vary from this.
Length- 18km
Route- From the Eastern Freeway (M3) at Collingwood, underneath the northern CBD, to the Citylink (SR43) at Parkville, then to the Western Ring Road (M80) at Sunshine West
Toll- $5.50 for cars (indicative)
Original Cost- Stage 1- $6.8 billion, Entire project- $15-17 billion
Status- Cancelled indefinitely
The East-West Link was a proposed freeway that would have linked the Eastern Freeway at Collingwood to the Citylink and Western Ring Road. The route, much of which would have been a tunnel, was to bust the congestion motorists face at the eastern end of the Eastern Freeway at Alexandra Parade and Hoddle Street, provide a second east-west crossing to the West Gate Bridge and alleviate congestion within the CBD. It wasn’t without its problems, however; at an overall cost of $15-17 billion, it would have been the most expensive road project in the nation’s history. The project, hugely unpopular with the public, soon became the most contentious topic of the 2014 Victorian State election, with Labor, the opposition, against and Liberal for. This article will explore the history of the route up until Labor cancelled the project, the benefits the route would have brought, its problems, and the uncertain future of the project.
History
The Eastern Freeway, of which incorporated the currently proposed East West Link, was identified as a route from Ringwood at the Scoresby Freeway (now the Eastlink) to the Tullamarine Freeway near the CBD (now Citylink). The Eastern Freeway west of Hoddle Street (which would form part of the East West Link) was officially cancelled by the Hamer government in 1973 due to its unpopularity, along with another 240km of freeways.
In 1997 the entire Eastern Freeway to its current extent was completed. On western end of the freeway, traffic was dumped onto Springvale Road at Donvale; a problem solved by the construction of the Eastlink tollway. On its eastern end, traffic was especially bad; the intersection at Alexandra Parade and Hoddle Street was, and still is, known for long traffic queues, cars reduced to a crawl.
The Eddington Transport Report, conducted by Sir Rod Eddington, was released in April 2008. The report studied the need for more east-west transport corridors within Melbourne, and recommended an east-west road link between the Eastern Freeway, Citylink, and possibly the Western Ring Road. At the time, the West Gate Bridge was carrying 165 000 vehicles a day, with surrounding roads including Smithfield Road and Dynon Rd carrying 39 000 and 35 000 vehicles respectively.
The report detailed how an alternative route to the heavily congested West Gate Bridge was needed, along with the lack of east-west links within Melbourne; those in this corridor are disconnected local roads, incapable of carrying a slowly increasing amount of traffic. The document is available here.
In response to this study, the Victorian Government released the Victorian Transport Plan in December 2008, accepting the proposal west of the Citylink as both an alternate route to the West Gate Bridge, and improving access to the Port of Melbourne. The report however rejected the extension of the Eastern Freeway to the Citylink. At a projected cost of $2.5 billion, the road was dubbed the Westlink.
This plan was subsequently dumped shortly after Ted Baillieu came to power in 2010, its proposals facing a re-evaluation. Two months after he succeeded Ted Baillieu as Premier on the 7th May 2013, Denis Napthine and treasurer Michael O’Brian announced funding for the freeway, along the corridor outlined in the Eddington Transport Report, as part of the state budget. $294 million was allocated over three years for the first stage of the proposed tunnel between the Eastern Freeway and Citylink, with the first stage to cost $6-8 billion.
The original business case for the project was released in June 2013, outlining Stage 1 as the link between the Citylink and Eastern Freeway, the Western Stage as a link from Citylink to the Western Ring Road, and the Port Connection as a freeway between the Western portion of the route and the Port of Melbourne. The business case is available here.
In July 2013 residents of Collingwood were first told that their houses may be compulsorily acquired. The project begun to attract major controversy within the public as time progressed, especially considering the hefty price tag on the toll road.
The three consortiums bidding for construction of the freeway were released in September 2013; they were the EastWest Connect, Inner Link Group and Momentum Infrastructure Consortiums. It was also in this month that the first regular protests begun at drilling sites for the project, of which were slowly garnering support, continuing into 2014.
Flaws of the project were slowly coming to light, with claims that the planning phase had created deceptive claims of the benefits of the freeway. The government was firm, however, that the route would help bust congestion within the inner city, providing an east-west freeway corridor that would provide an alternate route to the West Gate Bridge.
Even so, the Yarra and Moreland Councils filed a legal challenge against the approval of the project’s design, citing that the plans had no basis to have been approved by the planning ministry. More importantly, the entire business case was yet to be released, along with other key information about the project, attracting even more criticism for the road.
The government announced that the EastWest Connect Consortium had won the contract to build the road on September 11 2014. It was this day that current opposition leader Daniel Andrews announced his intentions to scrap the entire $15-17 billion East-West Link project if he were to come into power at the election in November.
As the race to the state election began, the East-West Link became the most contentious point of the entire election campaign, with two clear sides; Liberal for the project, Labor against it. Much of the public was against the project, as is the case with many freeways in Australia, popular arguments being that the road would encourage road use, that most motorists on the Eastern Freeway were not trying to get across the CBD to the Citylink, rather into the CBD, and that more money should be spent on public transport.
Arguments for the road were that the freeway would help relieve the West Gate Bridge and M1 corridor, that it would enhance connectivity between the freeway network and the Port of Melbourne, and at the freeway was a top priority for Melbourne’s infrastructure.
With the contracts already signed and construction of the road almost underway, it was clear that great sums of compensation would be required if the Labor Government was elected and scrapped the project. Andrews remained steadfast, however, determined to cancel the entire road.
In the lead-up to the election, it was clear that the public was most focused on the East-West Link. On the 29th November 2014, the Victorians headed to the polls to vote in the next party for the state, and determine the future of the East-West Link.
Labor won the election with 47 seats, Liberal at 38, marking the first time in over 60 years that a party in Victoria had only been in office for one-term. Daniel Andrews confirmed that the East-West Link would be cancelled the following day, at a cost of $420 million to taxpayers (a number which may be very well higher).
The Debate-
Most certainly the more widely expressed view for the East-West Link is against the freeway. However arguments exist on both sides in deciding whether or not this road should have been built. This portion of the article will try to explore both these sides, while not establishing which one is in fact correct.
Please don't take any of this personally; I live in Sydney and hence I have no reason to be biased either way towards the project. It's just an interest of mine (in case you didn't realise by now).
For-
Most certainly, the East-West Link should have been built and not cancelled by Labor. The freeway would most certainly have alleviated congestion not only along CBD routes, but more importantly on the congested West Gate Bridge. The travel of freight would have been significantly improved due to the planned port connection. It is highly likely that Labor was playing politics when it chose to not only go against the project, but then cancel it when elected. The freeway has been identified as a key need for decades, a recommendation of many studies, and it will be built in the future; the later the construction, the higher the cost.
As mentioned above, the West Gate Bridge was 165 000 vehicles a day in 2008, a number which is slowly rising. As the only east-west freeway crossing of the Yarra River, the corridor will soon be operating at complete capacity. Construction of the East-West Link, most importantly west of the Citylink, would have solved this problem by providing an alternative to the bridge. Also, congestion on the Eastern Freeway in Collingwood would have been at least partially alleviated by the construction of the freeway, taking out through traffic from Alexandra Parade and surrounding roads and placing it underground.
Certainly, this does not mean that the East-West Link is the only solution to congestion within Melbourne. Both public transport and new roads should be built in conjunction with each other to help ease choke points within the CBD. In a city like Sydney, both public transport and road projects are being built, showing a government not biased to one side or the other. Unfortunately, the growing consensus between many Australians is that ''we're too good for cars'' and that trains are the way of the future. What people do seem to forget is that there is congestion on these roads for a reason; many people still use cars, and building more public transport is not the only solution in alleviating traffic.
Even if people are made to use public transport (which will, too, become congested, if everyone begins using it), there is still the issue of freight movements. The port connection which was to be built as part of this project would have greatly eased congestion with freight into and out of the port.
For months before the election Daniel Andrews backed or was neutral to the East-West Link project. Only when he and his party knew that the public was so against the freeway did he choose to go against it. This is a common stance by many parties, and certainly there may be other reasons as to why he chose only two months prior to election to go against, but in the end he was playing politics, most importantly costing the Victorian taxpayers in upwards of $420 million. This is insane; half a million to not build a road.
These reasons are substantial proof that the road should have been built and should still be built. It was callous and rash of Andrews to cancel the project, something he should regret having done. Traffic won't get better; only worse.
Against-
It is quite clear that the East-West Link should never be built for several key reasons. First of all, most motorists on the Eastern Freeway are trying to get into only the CBD and not across it. Secondly, the project makes no economic sense as a long-term investment by the Victorian Government. Furthermore, it is quite clear that the Victorian Government should be spending more money on public transport, rather than encouraging car use through the building of another freeway.
Think of the road from the perspective of the average Melbourne motorist, commuting into the CBD. Currently, the Eastern Freeway ends abruptly, yet at the very edge of the CBD. While it is acknowledged that there is great congestion at the end of the freeway, this tunnel would have done nothing to alleviate the long traffic queues. Only a minimal number of vehicles would have been taken off Hoddle Street and Alexandra Parade, with most continuing into the CBD instead. Traffic figures show that in the AM peak that this is true for 54% of traffic exiting the Eastern Freeway, with the remainder dispersed all around Melbourne, with merely 13% heading towards Footscray near the Citylink.
Economically, this project makes no sense. In fact, the aforementioned Eddington Report states clearly that only 45c would be made back for every $1 spent on the road. This road would have cost $15-17 billion to build; had this ratio become a reality, major losses would most certainly have been recorded.
Public transport should be a more major priority in the eyes of the government. Railway lines including the Doncaster railway line, designed to run along the median of the Eastern Freeway, and the Melbourne Metro through Melbourne CBD, should be taking higher priority. Construction of more public transport links will in fact serve the same purpose as the East-West Link, by taking cars of roads and putting people into trains. By not doing so, and constructing the East-West Link, more people will be encouraged to use their cars; built it, and they will come; which will exacerbate the effects of congestion.
To add another argument, it cannot be affirmed that, had the road been built, it would not have been another economic disaster, following the Clem7 in Brisbane (read more here) and the Cross City Tunnel in Sydney. Both the Clem7 and CCT cross underneath their respective CBDs, with expensive construction price tags and tolls. More compelling, however, is that both roads are severely underused, with motorists less concerned about bypassing the CBD, instead using CBD streets. Chances are that this would have also occurred on the East-West Link; if so, it would have been the fifth PPP (Public-Private Partnership) failure in the construction of roads in Australia.
These arguments are solid evidence as to why the East-West Link should never be built, and as to why it was a smart choice by the Andrews government to cancel the project.
Future
The Andrews government has proposed the construction of the Western Distributor, which will do nothing in terms of alleviating congestion on the Eastern Freeway. However I must note that it will help (or at least aims to) ease congestion on the West Gate Bridge, as it provides a second underground crossing of the Yarra River.
The East-West Link will probably never be built; roads are becoming less of a priority as each successive government takes place, in favour of ''hospitals, schools and public transport'', five words you will hear in every political campaign. It is important to note that the NorthConnex in Sydney had been proposed for many years before finally starting construction in 2015. This also applies to the WestConnex, which also begun in 2015-16.
Roads are certainly not what the public wants, and it isn't like they are the only solution either; public transport on its own will not work however. We need a good system that incorporates both of these systems for an economy to grow.
The East West Link has entered a series of roads that will never be built, alongside such cancelled roads as the Eastern Freeway through Bondi in Sydney, and most of the freeways in Adelaide. It is hard to tell whether the route would have been a success, and of course, since the road was never built, we shall never know.
You would most likely have made up your mind about what you think of the East-West Link by now. Please fill out the survey at the bottom which will ask you whether you believe the road should be built or not, and why. If you have any comments leave them under the survey.
Interchanges- (read the guide here)
I attemped to make this accurate, however the design I was following here in Youtube was only a rough design. Naturally if the road is ever built, which could be never, its design will most likely vary from this.
Images
LINKS
- http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/east-west-link-announcement/
- http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/yarra-council-joins-moreland-to-fight-east-west-link-20140721-zv688.html
- http://i1.wp.com/www.ycat.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/EWL-Project-Map_July2013.png
- http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-14/what-is-the-east-west-link3f/5389038
- http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/east-west-link-debate-the-argument-for-and-against-20140911-10fnxd.html
- http://umsu.unimelb.edu.au/for-against-east-west-link/
- http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/publications/20151209-East-West-Link/20151209-East-West-Link.pdf
- http://buildthelink.com.au/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_West_Link_(Melbourne)
- http://www.smh.com.au/comment/east-west-link-the-case-against-this-road-gets-ever-stronger-20140725-zwtpz.html
- http://www.ycat.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/EWLNA_2008/Main%20Report/Investing_in_Transport_East_West-Chapter05.pdf
- http://vr-enthusiast.com/vlptcn/vtp.pdf
- http://www.ycat.org.au/neat-plausible-and-wrong-melbournes-east-west-link/
- http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-07/government-commits-funds-for-east-west-link/4674334
- http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/labor-to-dump-eastwest-link-if-elected-even-if-contracts-are-signed-20140910-10f46z.html
- http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/04/15/history-east-west-link
- http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-01/east-west-link-88-homeowners-offered-voluntary-buyouts/5780998
- http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-15/victorian-government-to-pay-339-million-east-west-link-contracts/6393536