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| end_b = | through = Collingwood, Clifton Hill, Fitzroy North, Carlton, Parkville, Flemington, Kensington, Footscray, Tottenham, Derrimut | route = | exits = }} The East West Link is a proposed 18 kilometre tollway in Melbourne, Australia, to link the Western Ring Road with the Eastern Freeway. The Napthine Coalition Government signed a $5.3 billion contract with the East West Connect consortium in September 2014 to build the road, as the first stage of the project was due for completion by 2019.A change in government at the November 2014 state election led to the project's demise. The project's $6 billion first stage was planned as a 4.4 km tunnel from Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill to CityLink at Parkville. Work on the second stage, the western section between Parkville and the Western Ring Road, was to have started by the end of 2015. The project's total cost was estimated at $15 billion to $17 billion. The road project was proposed in 1999 by then Premier Jeff Kennett, but gained prominence when it became one of the chief recommendations of the 2008 East-West Link Needs Assessment report, which warned that steady growth in port freight and population growth was rapidly taking Melbourne roads to capacity. The report's author, Sir Rod Eddington, said an alternative river crossing was also imperative to lessen the city's dependence on the West Gate Bridge, while an additional east-west link was needed to the city's north because of capacity constraints on the congested Monash-CityLink-West Gate corridor. Eddington said the benefits for the city included relieving congestion on Hoddle Street, reducing east-west rat running through suburban streets, assisting north-south traffic flows including public transport, and improving accessibility to city jobs for western suburbs residents.〔Investing in Transport: East West Link Needs Assessment, a study by Sir Rod Eddington, March 2008, Overview, pg 4, 11, 12.〕 The proposed freeway standard road was to start at the Western Ring Road at Laverton North, connect with Market Road, Brooklyn, then descend into two separate three-lane tunnels at Kingsville, to link with the Eastern Freeway. On-ramps and off-ramps were expected to be provided near Dynon Road, Footscray for port access, and at its junction with CityLink and the Eastern Freeway.〔 The project attracted public criticism over its effectiveness to reduce congestion, prioritisation ahead of public transport, transparency of business case and local impact on Royal Park and Melbourne Zoo. Local councils and public transport advocates opposed the project and several community groups were formed to block its construction. Then Opposition Leader and now Premier Daniel Andrews campaigned against the project in the 2014 state election, promising to abandon the project if Labor won government. The Labor government says the project's western section may still be built, though not in the government's first term. The government initially proposed its West Gate Distributor as a lower-cost port link for heavy freight vehicles, but in early 2015 unveiled plans by infrastructure company Transurban to build the multi-billion Western Distributor as a more expansive route, providing a second major river crossing in the city's inner west. The state Liberal Opposition remains committed to the East West Link. ==History== The completion in 2000 of CityLink, which joined the Monash Freeway to the West Gate Freeway and the Tullamarine Freeway, provided an effective southern and western bypass of Melbourne's inner city. The Eastern Freeway, however, has remained the last of Melbourne's unconnected freeways leading towards the city. It carries about 140,000 vehicles a day, which are deposited to or drawn from Hoddle Street and Alexandra Parade, and numerous city and inner urban streets beyond.〔Investing in Transport: East West Link Needs Assessment, a study by Sir Rod Eddington, March 2008, chapter 5, pg 129.〕 Under the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan, the Eastern Freeway had been intended to link with the then-new Tullamarine Freeway, as well as taking traffic off the Maroondah Highway, but protests from inner Melbourne suburbs residents led it being terminated at Hoddle Street. An east-west tunnel linking the Eastern and Tullamarine freeways was proposed by Premier Jeff Kennett in 1999 and was also discussed—but not recommended—in the 2003 Northern Central City Corridor Study prepared by the state Department of Infrastructure.〔http://www.ycat.org.au/?page_id=3424〕〔Investing in Transport: East West Link Needs Assessment, a study by Sir Rod Eddington, March 2008, chapter 5, pg 122, 137.〕 The concept was backed in 2005 in infrastructure plans prepared by the Committee for Melbourne, Melbourne City Council and Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The project became one of the key recommendations of the 2008 East-West Link Needs Assessment report by Sir Rod Eddington. Eddington identified two possible routes to link the Eastern Freeway with Melbourne's western suburbs, both of which formed an alternative to the West Gate Bridge and provided connections to the port and CityLink. He identified a single alignment from the Eastern Freeway to the port area—under Alexandra Parade, Princes Street and Royal Park—and two possible routes from the port to the western suburbs: *A tunnel under Footscray and the Maribyrnong River along the general alignment of Buckley Street and Sunshine Road to connect Dynon Road with the Deer Park Bypass; or *An elevated road over the Maribyrnong River linking Dynon Road with the West Gate Freeway near Williamstown Road. Both options would include a major interchange in the port precinct. Eddington's report noted that although the sequencing of the full connection was a decision for government, he believed the most urgent need was the section from the inner west to the port, providing an alternative to the West Gate Bridge—"a tunnel under, or a bridge over, the Maribyrnong River, connecting to a northern bypass of the city."〔Investing in Transport: East West Link Needs Assessment, a study by Sir Rod Eddington, March 2008, chapter 9, pg 217-218.〕 He concluded: "The evidence is clear: doing nothing is not an option. Melbourne needs better east-west transport connections to address core congestion problems within the transport network, to meet rapidly increasing travel demand, to support a growing population and to keep pace with the changes taking place in the city's economic and urban structure."〔 Releasing the report, Premier John Brumby said he was neither "ruling anything in nor ruling anything out" among Eddington's 20 key proposals. In December 2008 the Brumby Labor government released its Victorian Transport Plan, which included a commitment to start work on the western end of Eddington's overall proposal: building an alternative to the West Gate Bridge—"a new tunnel from Geelong Rd/Sunshine Rd to Dynon Rd/Footscray Rd in the Port of Melbourne precinct." The tunnel, which became known as Westlink, was costed at $2.5 billion〔The Victorian Transport Plan, Victoria Government, overview, page 6. 8 December 2008.〕 and Brumby described it as the transport plan's top priority, with construction due to start about 2013. He said plans for the 18 km tunnel had been dumped, and that improved public transport to Doncaster would achieve better results for eastern suburban commuters. In July 2010 the Victorian Government established the Linking Melbourne Authority,〔(About Linking Melbourne Authority, LMA website, accessed 3 July 2013. )〕 which investigated a series of route options for the Westlink tunnel project before releasing a preferred route in October 2010. A month later, the Brumby government was defeated and replaced by the Ted Baillieu-led coalition government; in January 2011 new Transport Minister Terry Mulder announced the Labor government Transport Plan had been shelved, with all its recommendations to undergo re-evaluation. In May 2012 the Baillieu government was reported to be "red hot" about making a start on the project, which would rival CityLink and the railway City Loop in its scope;〔 on 7 May 2013 new Premier Denis Napthine announced the Government was committing to fund stage one of the project. In a media release Napthine said the project would "reduce chronic congestion issues and transform east west travel across Melbourne".〔("Coalition Government to build the East West Link", Victoria Government media release, 7 May 2013. )〕 The Government pledged to have the design finalised and construction contracts signed by September 2014 to ensure construction was under way in October, before the state election on 29 November. A shortlist of companies tendering for the work was released in late September 2013. It comprised:〔(Three consortia shortlisted for East-West Link ) ''Urbanlyst'' 7 October 2013〕 *East West Connect Consortium: Capella Capital, Lend Lease, Acciona and Bouygues *Inner Link Group Consortium: Cintra, Retail Employees Superannuation, Samsung C&T Corporation, Ferrovial Agroman, Ghella, Transfield Services and Macquarie Capital *Momentum Infrastructure Consortium: John Holland Group, Dragados Australia, Leighton Contractors, Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras and The Bank of Tokyo The companies submitted their bids for the work in April 2014, three months before the conclusion of a community consultation process. In June 2014 Momentum abandoned its bid, claiming the geotechnical risks associated with building the tunnel were "not acceptable", leaving just East West Connect and Inner Link in the bidding race, and in September East West Connect was named as the sole preferred bidder. Geotechnical drilling of the route began in May 2012; from late September 2013 the drilling began to be disrupted by protesters. Pickets continued in 2014, the protesters each day targeting one of the 16 drilling sites.〔ABC: ("Road protesters confront police over East West Link drilling" ), 9 January 2014〕 According to the State Government policing costs as result of the protests amounted to $1.6 million by late January 2014.〔Ashlynne McGhee: ("State Government says east west link protest has cost $1.6 million" ), ABC, 24 January 2014〕 In April 2014 the project was challenged in the Supreme Court of Victoria, with the claim that the government had made "misleading representations" about the project's benefits. The court dismissed the challenge on 10 September 2014. Planning Minister Matthew Guy announced on June 30 he had approved the project with some modifications, deleting the Elliott Avenue interchange and instead including access to Flemington Road. The change would spare much of Royal Park grounds. A month later Yarra Council voted to join with Moreland Council and issue a legal challenge to the Planning Minister's decision, arguing that the approval was invalid and "infected by jurisdictional error" because the planning process had been flawed. In August the Supreme Court of Victoria set 15 December 2014—two months after the date when construction contracts are expected to be signed—as the starting date for that trial; Moonee Valley Council joined the action in November. By August a third legal challenge to the East West Link was also under way, with Labor's shadow road minister Luke Donnellan pursuing the Government in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to force the release of the project business case. In September 2014 state Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said that if Labor won power in the November election it would support the Supreme Court action by Yarra and Moreland councils rather than defend the project, thus making the councils' legal challenge likely to succeed and effectively terminating the project. Andrews said Labor had gained legal advice that if the court declared invalid the Planning Minister's decision to approve the project, "any contracts entered into will be beyond power and unenforceable". On 29 September 2014 the government signed a $5.3 billion contract with the East West Connect consortium to build the road. A week before the November election Andrews said an "East West Link-type connection" could still be built under a Labor government if it was recommended by Infrastructure Victoria, an independent advisory board Labor planned to set up if it won government. The day after Labor's win in the state election, Andrews confirmed that the East West Link would be abandoned in favour of its $300 million alternative, the West Gate Distributor, but the government has left open the option of proceeding with the western section of the original road plan.〔 On 12 December Andrews ordered the East West Connect consortium to stop work on the project immediately, prompting Infrastructure Australia to abandon an assessment of the full business case for the first stage of the project. In January 2015 the Victorian Government announced it was negotiating with East West Connect on the cost of dissolving the contracts. The contractual payment for contract termination, governed by a formula that increases as time progresses, was expected to reach $1.1 billion by March, prompting concerns the state's credit rating would be downgraded, but the Andrews government said it would compensate only actual costs incurred rather than lost future profits. The government said it was prepared to pass legislation to overturn compensation provisions in the contract if a compromise could not be reached. Prime Minister Tony Abbott criticised the Andrews government's stance, telling the National Press Club: "Surely, it is the very midsummer of madness to pay $1.2 billion not to build a road ... I can't think of anything more crazy than spending $1.2 billion not to build a road, given that the Victorian government's contribution, after the federal government's contribution, after road users' contribution, after the private investors’ contribution, was probably only going to be $1.5 billion in the first place." A group of federal Liberal MPs from Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs announced in January 2015 it would launch a public campaign, with billboards, advertising and social media, to lobby for the road's construction and in April two federal MPs from Geelong, Sarah Henderson and Andrew Katos, launched a "Just Build It" campaign and petition, claiming that stage two of the project should be fast-tracked for the sake of jobs and the Geelong economy. Katos said the "shovel-ready" East West Link would remove 50,000 vehicles a day from the West Gate Bridge compared with 5000 if the West Gate Distributor was eventually built. On 15 April 2015 the government announced the road project would not proceed and said it had reached agreement with East West Connect to pay the consortium $339 million to cover costs it had incurred to that point. Andrews said the government had acquired the consortium for $1. The decision was condemned by Abbott as "reckless" and said Victorians would suffer as a result. Abbott said: "The East West Link is the only answer. Tens of millions of dollars and years of planning have already been invested to get the project shovel-ready. $3 billion from the Commonwealth government remains on the table for any Victorian government which wants to build the East West Link."〔 In October 2015 federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the federal government remained committed to the project. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「East West Link (Melbourne)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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