Work on North East Link from Watsonia to Bulleen is gaining speed, with construction of the on and off ramps at the Manningham interchange underway.
The new interchange will shift 14,700 cars and trucks off Bulleen Road each day and into the new 6.5km tunnels, with 2 massive Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) to arrive late this year.
Crews at Bulleen with the help of a massive 450 tonne crane, are busy building structural walls known as 'diaphragm walls' to allow excavation of the ramps and the TBM retrieval box.
Nearby, crews are also getting ready to move Bulleen Road further west, to make space to build the Yarra Link green bridge over Bulleen Road – providing a new link between Koonung Creek Trail and Bulleen Park. The existing Bulleen Road will stay open to keep traffic moving – until the realigned section is complete in late 2023.
The ramp design of the Manningham Road interchange avoids the historic River Red Gum on Bridge Street and allows Bulleen Art & Garden to stay open.
Across the project, the TBM launch area is under construction in Watsonia. 2 massive sheds are taking shape on both sides of Greensborough Road, and workers in Yallambie are preparing to build the ramps and tunnels for the new Lower Plenty Road interchange.
Tunnelling will start next year, with the TBMs to arrive from overseas in pieces by the end of the year – before the massive task of assembling the 90m long, 15.6m diameter, 4000 tonne TBMs begins.
As works continue, there are already more than 4600 workers across North East Link as part of 10,000 jobs the project is creating. Over 300 priority jobseekers – including more than 40 people from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds – have already been recruited to work across the program.
On the North East Link Tunnels alone, more than 900 roles will be dedicated to people experiencing barriers to employment. The tunnels will be complete in 2028, reducing travel times by up to 35 minutes, and taking 15,000 trucks off local road