Categories: Press Release
      Date: May 17, 2012
     Title: East West Planning Underway

MEDIA RELEASE

Thursday, 17 May 2012

Premier Ted Baillieu and Roads Minister Terry Mulder began the first  stage of the geotechnical drilling at Alexandra Parade in Clifton Hill  today as part of preliminary investigations for the landmark  East West  Link project.

Mr Baillieu said the Victorian Coalition Government had allocated $15  million in this year’s Budget to develop the business case and undertake  preliminary planning for the East West Link.

“The East West Link is a significant project that will transform the way  people move around Melbourne in a way not seen since CityLink and the  city rail loop were constructed,” Mr Baillieu said.

“The Coalition Government has reviewed and enhanced the East West Link  project. The project would connect the Eastern Freeway to CityLink and  connect CityLink to the Port of Melbourne, as well as a connection  between the Port of Melbourne to the Western Ring Road.

“The improved East West Link would provide an alternative to the M1  corridor, remove traffic from Melbourne’s inner-arterial roads,  particularly at Hoddle Street where the Eastern Freeway ends abruptly,  and link industry in Melbourne’s north, east and west,” Mr Baillieu said.

Mr Mulder said this was a massive project of a scale not seen before in  Victoria, and extensive geotechnical drilling was needed in order to  understand the rock conditions under the ground for tunnelling.

“Preliminary investigations for the East West Link will involve drilling  around fifty 100 millimetre boreholes at locations along Alexandra Parade  and around Parkville and surrounding areas over several months, with each  site taking around two to three days to complete,” Mr Mulder said.

“Drilling will be done to depths of around 60 metres so that engineers  can get an idea of the type and strength of rock beneath the surface, as  well as the depth of the water table, all of which are important elements  when planning and designing the construction of major tunnels.”

Mr Mulder said geotechnical testing would be used to establish a rock  profile for the project corridor, and drilling in a particular area did  not necessarily mean the East West Link would be situated or have an  impact on that location.

“The drilling we are doing now will supplement the desktop information  already available, and help us to develop an understanding of how and  where the project might be built,” Mr Mulder said.

“The East West Link has the potential to deliver enormous benefits, and  we’ll work with the community to plan out a project which responds to  local concerns but delivers a cross-city alternative to alleviate  congestion and ensure travel time reliability for families and freight.”

Mr Baillieu said this work was essential to ascertain how much the East  West Link project would cost and how to achieve the best outcome for the  community.

“Victoria was disappointed that the Federal Budget failed to provide any  funding to assist the Victorian Government to progress the East West  Link,” Mr Baillieu said.

“East West Link is a project that will drive productivity gain and  generate economic growth.
“Commonwealth funding is essential to take this project off the drawing  boards and into construction,” Mr Baillieu said.

Residents and businesses surrounding geotechnical investigation sites  will be notified of the works commencing, with more information available  at www.linkingmelbourne.vic.gov.au.