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Summary of document

The technical summary provides a snapshot of North East Link Authority (NELA) investigations and analysis so far relating to:

• why we need North East Link, including an overview of key existing conditions in Melbourne’s north-east
• potential corridor options for North East Link
• how each of the options may perform against key areas of interest identified by stakeholders.

Information is preliminary and provided to inform conversation about what North East Link should achieve.

Significant development of the project is still required and is underway. Key next steps have been identified by the NELA, with community engagement being a vital input.

Overview

North East Link is a proposed freeway standard road connection that plans to complete the missing link in Melbourne’s metropolitan ring road, giving the city a fully completed orbital connection for the first time.

North East Link proposes to connect the M80 Ring Road (M80) to the Eastern Freeway / EastLink. While the final route for North East Link has yet to be determined, in general it is proposed to connect the M80 at Greensborough with either the Eastern Freeway at Bulleen Road or EastLink at either Ringwood or further to the south.

North East Link will be informed by and progressed through planning, technical, environmental and social investigations, along with community and stakeholder engagement, to determine the best corridor for the project, with a key focus on protecting existing urban areas and minimising environmental impacts.

Project background

Since 1969, successive Victorian Governments have identified the need for a freeway standard road link through Melbourne’s north-east to complete the city’s orbital connection. Potential links and routes have been identified through:

• Victorian Government (1969), Melbourne Transportation Plan
• Victorian Government (1974), F35 Study: Eastern Freeway – Ringwood to Greensborough
• Victorian Government (1979), Outer Ring Study, Diamond Creek to Ringwood: Technical Report: Transport and Economic Evaluation
• Victorian Government (2008), Victorian Transport Plan.

Most recently, in 2016, a North East Link was identified as Victoria’s next priority road project in Infrastructure Victoria’s 30-year strategy, which sets out a pipeline of initiatives to be delivered over the next three decades to help create the best possible future for the State of Victoria. The strategy undertook a high-level analysis and nominated North East Link as a short- to-medium-term project that would enhance access to major employment centres and improve the capacity of the freight network, and recommended that a detailed assessment of corridors be undertaken as a first step.

As part of developing the business case, the NELA is completing a number of technical and environmental investigations, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders and members of the community and developing and assessing the benefits, challenges and costs for potential corridors for North East Link. The NELA is also looking at ways to improve existing roads, public transport services and cycling opportunities to make North East Link work effectively and maximise the transport, economic and social benefits it delivers.

Objectives and Guiding Principles

North East Link has a strong focus on supporting business and jobs growth in communities across Melbourne's north, east and south-east, while also improving cross-city connectivity and helping to address critical traffic, freight and amenity issues. High-level Project Objectives and Guiding Principles reflecting this focus have been established for the project, as outlined below.

Project Objectives

Objective 1

Improve business access and growth in Melbourne's north, east and south-east

Objective 2

Improve household access and growth in Melbourne's north, east and south-east.

Objective 3

Improve freight and supply chain efficiency and industrial growth across the north, east and south-east.

Objective 4

Improve access, amenity and safety for communities in Melbourne’s north-east.

Guiding Principles

Guiding Principle 1

Minimise impacts on communities

Guiding Principle 2

Minimise impacts on environmental and cultural assets

Guiding Principle 3

Minimise impacts during the construction phase

Guiding Principle 4

Optimise the efficient use of resources

In developing the Project Objectives and Guiding Principles, the NELA has had regard to:

• The objectives and decision-making principles in the Transport Integration Act 2010.
• Identification of key problems in Melbourne’s north-east and consultation undertaken to date.
• Key policy objectives of Government, including Plan Melbourne.

Initial investigations and stakeholder engagement activities

The NELA’s initial investigation and stakeholder engagement activities have focused on understanding the existing conditions in Melbourne’s north-east, exploring potential corridor options and identifying key areas of interest that people consider to be important.

Some of the key observations from these initial investigations are outlined in this Technical Summary.

Existing conditions and potential corridor options

Work commenced earlier this year to investigate and analyse key problems and existing conditions in Melbourne’s north-east, set key objectives and guiding principles for the project, identify potential corridors for North East Link, and identify the initial potential challenges and impacts of the existing conditions and corridor options. This work incorporates initial desktop and field work analyses of existing conditions, including:

• identification of key demographics in relation to residents, workers, businesses and tertiary education in Melbourne’s north-east and in the areas to the north, south and east of Melbourne
• review of travel patterns and on-site traffic surveys, including identification of truck volumes
• geotechnical investigations to identify ground conditions that will inform the project’s design and construction methods, assessment of risks and cost of road pavement, structures and tunnels
• environmental and heritage ground surveys to identify sensitive areas that need to be protected or offset.

Investigations are ongoing, with a focus on geotechnical investigations and environmental, heritage and traffic surveys.

The NELA has also been undertaking preliminary analysis of the effects of each potential corridor option, including:

• preliminary transport modelling to identify the effects of each of the options on travel patterns and land use
• engineering design to identify the potential location of options and the design and construction challenges associated with each option.

Investigations to date indicate that each corridor option has benefits and challenges. While there is still more work to do, this Technical Summary outlines some of the key observations to date on how each option addresses the key areas of interest identified through the NELA’s initial stakeholder engagement activities.

Initial consultation and key areas of interest

The NELA commenced consultation for North East Link in May 2017, engaging with a range of stakeholders through activities that include:

• North East Link online community survey
• discussions with local government
• discussions with community groups
• discussions with industry
• discussions with government authorities including Transport for Victoria (TfV), VicRoads, Public Transport Victoria (PTV), the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).

Through these initial interactions, the following issues have been identified as important:

• reducing congestion on key roads in Melbourne’s north-east
• removing trucks that don’t need to be on roads in Melbourne’s north-east
• providing better connectivity for people to access existing and new jobs and education opportunities
• helping businesses better connect to each other and to workers across Melbourne
• making freight journeys more efficient
• improving public transport connections and travel times
• improving connections for pedestrians and cyclists
• protecting the environment, culture, heritage and open spaces
• minimising the impacts from construction-related traffic as the project is being built.