8 BWA | JUL 2026 of the Month is that its construction story is just as significant as its transport story. This is not a modest road widening exercise. It is a multi-package program involving twin three-lane tunnels, major upgrades to the Eastern Freeway and M80 Ring Road, new interchanges, new walking and cycling connections, parkland improvements, and one of the most complex urban tunnelling efforts currently underway in Australia. The Department of Treasury and Finance describes North East Link as the largest investment in a road project in Victoria’s history and says the link is expected to carry up to 135,000 vehicles daily once complete. At the centre of the project are the tunnels themselves. Running between Watsonia and Bulleen, the North East Link tunnels are being built up to 45 metres underground, passing traffic beneath local suburbs rather than pushing more surface road infrastructure through established communities. That underground alignment is central to the project’s design philosophy: it is
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