As part of the largest freeway upgrade projects in Victoria’s history, the state government has announced the successful tenders for each section of the North East Link project.
The first part of the overhaul of the Eastern Freeway, from Burke to Tram Road, will cost $5.7 billion and will be overseen by Nexus.
Nexus is a consortium of Laing O’Rourke Australia Construction, Symal Infrastructure, WSP Australia and Arcadis Australia Pacific.
Meanwhile, AMA, made up of Acciona Construction Australia, AECOM Australia and MACA Civil has won the contract to deliver the M80 Ring Road Upgrade.
That project will cost $3.8 billion. The entire North East Link project is now estimated to cost $26.1 billion.
It is an increase of more than $10 billion on the previously estimated cost of $15.8 billion in the business case of 2019.
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has said that the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict have affected the cost of the project.
New noise walls, walking and cycling paths and a transformed Koonung Creek Reserve are part of the plans for the Eastern Freeway upgrade.
It will also have more than 45km of new lanes and traffic-management systems, handing an 11-minute travel time saving between Hoddle Street and Springvale Road.
Nearly 15km of new lanes from Plenty Road to the new North East Link will be added via the M80 Ring Road Upgrade along with a new interchange at Grimshaw Street plus new walking and cycling paths.
A third part of the project, the North East Link tunnels from Watsonia to Bulleen, will help take up to 15,000 trucks off local roads each day, according to the government.
The project is expected to be completed in 2028.
Work on infrastructure projects in the state has resumed after some were paused pending the outcome of the federal review into infrastructure projects and their funding in late 2023.
For many projects such as the Suburban Rail Loop project, the decision was made to not allocate more federal funding.
