Work will begin on major overhauls to the Eastern Freeway and M80 ring road in Melbourne early next year now the contracts have been awarded
The first contracts for Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway and M80 Ring Road have been signed, with major upgrades to start next year.
The freeway upgrades and 6.5km North East Link tunnels will cut travel times by 35 minutes in the north east, taking 15,000 trucks off local roads a day, and creating 12,000 jobs across these three projects, the state government says.
Through six years of design and planning work, significant additional scope has been added to North East Link in response to community feedback – including a longer tunnel, a major upgrade of the M80 Ring Road at Greensborough, better interchanges and more public open space.
In the first major upgrades to the Eastern Freeway in decades, more than 45km of new lanes and traffic management systems will cut travel times by 11-minutes between Springvale Road and Hoddle Street, with 10km of walking and cycling paths and a rebuilt Koonung Creek Reserve.
In the north, a major upgrade will finally complete the M80 Ring Road at Greensborough, adding nearly 15km of new lanes from Plenty Road to the new North East Link, a more efficient interchange at Grimshaw Street, new walking and cycling links and with new green bridges connecting to a revitalised Watsonia precinct.
Nexus – made up of Laing O’Rourke Australia Construction Pty Ltd, Symal Infrastructure Pty Ltd, WSP Australia Pty Ltd and Arcadis Australia Pacific Pty Ltd – has been appointed to deliver the first part of the $5.7 billion overhaul of the Eastern Freeway from Burke to Tram roads.
AMA – made up of Acciona Construction Australia Pty Ltd, AECOM Australia Pty Ltd, and MACA Civil Pty Ltd – will deliver the $3.8 billion M80 Ring Road Completion.
Work on the freeway overhauls will step up from early 2024 and are expected to cause significant disruption over coming years as both freeway upgrades are tied in with the new North East Link tunnels from Watsonia to Bulleen.
The Eastern Freeway Upgrades will stretch from Hoddle Street to Springvale Road and be delivered in three key stages. The Burke to Tram road section will be first, with local designs still to be released for Hoddle to Burke roads and Tram to Springvale roads, with contracts still to be awarded for these two stages.
The North East Link tunnels, Eastern Freeway Upgrades and M80 Ring Road Completion are expected to open in 2028.