After years of pushing for a link between Melbourne’s north and east, Victoria’s road transport industry is set to benefit from it in the near future
Since construction of a western to northern ring road in Melbourne was completed in 1999, there’s been a major push from Victoria’s road transport industry for the continuation of it. This past decade, the push has been felt and has seen the Victorian government take action.
Late last year, the government announced that the project’s construction is set to ramp up this coming year. The works come alongside upgrades to the neighbouring M80 Ring Road and Eastern Freeway. Victorian Transport Association (VTA) CEO Peter Anderson says that while costs may have blown out of proportion, heavy vehicle operators won’t stop using it once it opens in four years time.
“They will use this road because it is a non-stop passageway for them to get to their broader destinations,” Anderson told ATN.
Arterials such as Rosanna Road and the Greensborough Highway have been around for many years to connect Melbourne’s north and east. Each road’s effectiveness has been offset by many issues, including the introduction of truck curfews on Rosanna Road.
In 2015, multiple media outlets reported that a 12-month trial curfew between 10pm and 6am each day would take place from August 20 that year. Since that 12-month period ended, no such curfew has been imposed on the road.
Anderson says that a push by the VTA for the link’s construction came when these issues arose. It was the introduction of Infrastructure Victoria later that year that saw it almost became a reality.
“When Infrastructure Victoria came out with their first iteration of projects that needed to be done, the number one project was creating the North East Link,” Anderson says.
“We were really happy because it meant that the Victorian government had to make some sort of commitment towards it, which they did.”
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| Anderson says the introduction of Infrastructure Victoria was key in progressing the North East Link further. Image: Adwo/Shuttershock |
The road transport industry may’ve had their wish granted, but once complete, the link will still cost users plenty. Late last year the Victorian government announced that costs had blown out by $10 billion after originally pricing it at $16 billion in 2019.
Anderson says that the surge in costs is a surprise. On the other hand, RMIT urban policy professor and researcher Jago Dodson says that the blowout isn’t uncommon given recent history.
Dodson says that the main reason behind cost blowouts for major infrastructure projects, such as this one, comes down to governments often failing to complete any further investigation into each project. The recent inflation of material and labour costs, interest rates and the Australian economy has seen the link’s price tag skyrocket unlike any other project.
“One can forgive a government for the factors that are outside of their control such as inflation,” Dodson told ATN.
“But to proceed with a project without fully knowing the costs, and having not doing a full investigation, you can see that as a weakness in the way the government is approaching the North East Link.”
The link’s operating design won’t be greatly impacted according to Dodson, with no decision on winding back design parameters being announced by the Victorian government yet. Dodson says other projects that could’ve proven to be more beneficial than the link is another weakness shown by the government.
One project that was under consideration, instead of the North East Link, was an East West Link. Talks for the proposed link by the Victorian government date back to 1999. The link was eventually abandoned by the current government in 2014 after much legal challenge from the Yarra, Moreland and Moonee Valley councils.
With the proposed link going through the inner depths of Melbourne, drivers may not have used it as much as the North East Link. Studies by the VTA have shown that drivers are more likely to go up and across rather than through cities.
Anderson says that this is just one of many benefits that the link will provide operators and drivers. Other benefits include a decrease in brake and tyre costs, less pressure on motors while also providing operators the chance to provide customers with guaranteed timelines. Anderson says the link could also provide Melbourne with a ring road network similar to one in Sydney.
“Along Sydney’s orbital network you travel 72 kilometres, and you can go in and out of all the major industrial areas as you travel around it,” Anderson says.
“That’s the expectation I can see of this ring road once it’s completed, to be able to go in and out of those industrial areas easily and still get to the next one without having to travel through the local congestion.”
Dodson says that while this could help the link be beneficial for freight, the influx of passenger vehicles will offset it.
“Typically what we see is that these major toll roads are built, but then they open to private passenger vehicles as a mechanism for covering the capital cost,” Dodson says.
“In a sense, this cross subsidises the freight sector with private passenger vehicles.”
From curfews to blowouts, there’ve been many bumps along the road before the North East Link even began construction. Anderson says that with the benefits that it may provide, the ring road could lead to something even bigger.
“The next one I think we should build is an outer ring road right around Melbourne, from Werribee all the way down to Bangholme,” Anderson says.
“That exact thing happened with the M80, there was nothing over in the west until it was built, and then everybody came.“