Melbourne’s East-West Link demise has rich lessons for planners 23 April 2015 Bernard Salt

The demise of Melbourne’s East-West Link project is an appropriate time to reconsider the city’s future and the future of strategic and infrastructure planning throughout metropolitan Australia.

The East-West Link project was to be completed in two stages: a tunnel stage connecting the Eastern and the Tullamarine freeways and a western-link stage providing access to the western suburbs.

The full project was expected to cost upwards of $17 billion with the initial tunnel component costing $9bn. The entire project was planned to be completed over the next decade. It now seems that the project will not proceed, with compensation of $339 million having been paid by the Victorian government to the consortium engaged by the previous government. Continue Reading…