Meets Melbourne's transport needs and North East Link objectives

• Completes the Metropolitan Ring Road as a true orbital route
• Maximises the long term capacity of the overall road network
• Adds to the existing arterial road network rather than replacing existing parts of the network
• Directly connects to EastLink and avoids the mix of orbital and city bound traffic
• Avoids the long term capacity constraints of the EastLink tunnels
• Takes pressure off the Eastern Freeway by separating city bound and outer suburban traffic
• Eases traffic congestion on local roads

Meets Melbourne's freight needs

• Provides the most direct route for interstate freight to Melbourne’s northern and south eastern freight centres
• Directly connects with EastLink, the most attractive route for heavy vehicles
• The Victorian Transport Association has confirmed its preference is Corridor C

Encourages public transport use

• Prioritises public transport as the preferred way to travel into the city and enables improved public transport in the north east
• Provides extensive opportunity for much needed orbital public transport services

Improved emergency access

• Provides an additional firebreak/exit for local communities during bushfire events

A northern freeway into the city

• Does not complete the Ring Road or provide an orbital or ring road function
• Would act as a radial, or city-bound route used by commuter traffic going into the inner suburbs and Melbourne CBD
• Does not provide additional arterial road capacity

Discourages public transport use into the city

• Encourages car travel into Melbourne CBD
• Reduces patronage on the Hurstbridge line and negates the benefits of upgrading the line

Divides the community

• Limits connectivity across the Freeway corridor, cutting in half communities east and west of the route

Impacts the Eastern Freeway

• Adds to existing congestion by delivering even more vehicles directly onto it
• Forces trucks to use the steep gradients in the EastLink tunnels
• Puts non city-bound freight traffic onto the already congested Eastern Freeway
• Adds more traffic to already heavily congested EastLink tunnels by mixing traffic going to different destinations.
• Requires significant additional lane capacity to be built on the Eastern Freeway.
• Adds to the already heavily congested interchange at Bulleen Road.

Incomplete and inadequate analysis

• Melbourne needs more than just a road - a holistic review of transport solutions including public transport is required
• No scenario analysis has been carried out to assess the impact of traffic growth, particularly single occupancy private vehicle commuter traffic
• No analysis has been done on the benefits of potential rail or other public transport investment
• Detailed traffic modelling has not been provided
• Traffic volumes need to be expressed as cars (commuter) and trucks rather than total vehicles to accurately assess the outcomes in relation to movement of freight
• There is no analysis of the impacts of tolls on the existing road network

Insufficient data on options

• Corridor A is described as being 11km when it is actually 26km including the additional lane capacity required on the Eastern Freeway
• It is unclear how Corridor A would improve access to the La Trobe Employment Cluster as claimed

Inconsistent environmental assessment

• The environmental impact of Corridor A is assessed as lower than other options, despite Corridors A, B and C all having high biodiversity value - Corridors A, B and C should be scored consistently

Does not meet stated objectives

• Orbital connectivity – "Worsening orbital connectivity" -- will continue to affect communities and limit economic opportunities. NELA concedes that Corridor A does not provide orbital connectivity.
• Connection to jobs and education – Corridor C is estimated to provide access to 20% more jobs than Corridor A, however both Corridors receive the same performance score.

Freight movement

• Assessments on freight benefits are based on existing truck patterns in the north-east. The focus should provide for future as well as existing freight needs.
• "Truck surveys to better understand truck origin-destination movements and volumes throughout the north-east"ⁱ are yet to be completed. How can Corridor A be assessed as meeting the objective to improve freight efficiency when the origin-destination survey is incomplete?
• NELA claims the grades for Corridor A "[are] most suited to trucks"ⁱ, however, it ignores the existing steep grades in the EastLink tunnels.

ⁱ North East Link Authority (NELA) technical summary

Corridor B is dependent on the EastLink tunnels where as Corridor C avoids these tunnels that have existing grade issues.

Corridor B is less efficient than Corridor C in providing an orbital solution and in terms of access to jobs, Corridor B is inferior to Corridor C.

Also we have concern about the impact of the proposed Lower Plenty Road/Main Road interchange on the Plenty River and residential and local recreational facilities.

We do not consider Corridor D is viable due to its length (40km) and extensive impact on the Urban Growth Boundary.