Frequently Asked Questions
EastLink comprises 45 kilometres of freeway standard road connecting the city's eastern and south-eastern suburbs (including the untolled Ringwood and Dandenong bypasses). It connects the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne's east to the Frankston Freeway in the south-east. EastLink is Melbourne's second fully-electronic tollway.
After a highly competitive bid process, ConnectEast was awarded the contract to design, build, own and operate EastLink by the Victorian Government in October 2004.
Thiess John Holland (TJH) was contracted by ConnectEast to design and construct EastLink. TJH brings together the skills and experience of two of Australia’s largest construction and engineering companies.
The project was facilitated on behalf of the Victorian Government by the Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority (SEITA), a statutory authority established on 1 July 2003.
A consortium involving Sinclair Knight Mertz and Davis Langdon Australia, supported by Maunsell Australia, acts as the Independent Reviewer, was responsible for certifying completion by undertaking reasonable overview and checking of design and construction activities in accordance with the requirements of its Deed of Appointment.
Transfield Services has the contract to manage the ongoing maintenance and roadside operations.
It takes on average approximately half an hour to complete the full 39km journey along EastLink between Mitcham and Frankston.
Since EastLink opened, ConnectEast has commissioned travel time surveys along the full length of EastLink, Springvale Road and Stud Road. these showed that for trips at 7.30am, EastLink users saved an average 26 minutes from their overall journey, and for trips at 6pm, EastLink users saved an average 23 minutes.
For more information on travel time savings, visit EastLink.com.au.
ConnectEast Group is the concessionaire for EastLink. Under its Concession Deed with the State of Victoria, ConnectEast is contracted to finance, design and construct EastLink and then operate it as toll road until 2043. ConnectEast listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX Code: CEU) in November 2004 and now has around 30,000 investors with more than 13,000 of these living in Victoria.
Melbourne’s population of 3.5 million is projected to grow by up to one million people or 620,000 households by 2030, with much of this growth occurring in the Mitcham-Frankston corridor.
The Committee for Melbourne’s Transport Taskforce has warned that the cost of congestion in Melbourne will double from $4 billion annually to $8 billion by 2015 with over 60 per cent of costs attributed to business.
ConnectEast has received feedback from local stakeholders that they are increasingly frustrated by traffic congestion in Melbourne's east and south-east.
There were a number of important checks in place on the quality fo design and construction of EastLink.
Firstly, contracted jointly between ConnectEast and Thiess John Holland were the Design Consultant, the Proof Engineer and Construction Verifier and the Independent Quality Assurance Auditor.
Overseeing these three was the Independent Reviewer, a joint appointment between ConnectEast and the State. The Independent Reviewer kept a close eye on design, quality assurance, management plans and compliance, the customer service roll-out program and the tolling program. The Independent Reviewer was ultimately responsible for the issuing of a certificate of completion and tolling completion.
There were 88 road, creek and pedestrian bridges contructed as part of EastLink.
There are two 1.6km long three-lane tunnels under the Mullum Mullum Valley in Donvale. The tunnels avoided the need to build the motorway through the valley and preserved the unique flora and fauna in the local area.
ConnectEast customers can purchase a new Breeze tag for EastLink, as well as all other tollways in Australia including CityLink. ConnectEast has ensured its tolling system is fully compatible with existing toll systems so no-one in Australia needs more than one tag account to use any Australian tollway.
Customer service centres in five shopping centres along the EastLink corridor have been established and are now open to the public including Bayside (Frankston), Box Hill, Chadstone, Dandenong Plaza and Knox. You can also visit the customer service centre in Hillcrest Ave, Ringwood.
The new ConnectEast tag had been named 'Breeze' to reflect the fact that using EastLink is fast, simple and convenient.
Customers can obtain a Breeze tag through a variety of means - online at Breeze.com.au, at one of our retail stores, at our customer service centre in Ringwood, by telephone via our 24 hour contact centre (13 LINK) and at hundreds of participating Australia Post offices throughout Victoria.
EastLink have the lowest tolls per kilometre of any private toll road in Australia and has added significant capacity to the existing road network. No surrounding roads were closed. Since EastLink opened, VicRoads research suggests EastLink has attracted motorists away from congested local roads such as Springvale and Stud roads by between 20 and 30 per cent and helped improve traffic flow.
EastLink provides 39km of safe freeway travel between Mitcham and Frankston. The total trip takes less than half an hour. A trip in peak periods using Springvale Rd could take at least double the time with dozens of traffic lights and level crossings.
An independent report commissioned by SEITA predicts EastLink will have a positive impact on employment, consumer spending and economic output in Victoria.
EastLink will contribute an additional $15.7 billion to the Victorian economy during the period from 2004 to 2031 through savings in travel time bringing a range of efficiency and reliability benefits to business.
The project has already employed more than 2,700 people and this may equate to more than 7,000 when indirect jobs are included over the entire construction phase.
There will also be an extra 6,500 jobs generated during the operations phase of the project, with more than one-third of these extra jobs created along the Mitcham-Frankston corridor.
ConnectEast now employs more than 350 peopel itself, with many of these living in the local area.
There are 17 interchanges between Mitcham and Frankston with access to EastLink including: Springvale Rd, Ringwood Bypass, Maroondah Highway, Canterbury Rd, Boronia Rd, Burwood Highway, High Street Rd, Ferntree Gully Rd, Wellington Rd, Police Rd, Monash Freeway, Princes Highway, Cheltenham Rd, Dandenong Bypass, Greens Rd, Thompson Rd and the Frankston Freeway.
There are 13 toll sections on EastLink, with a maximum toll per trip capped at $4.96 (at 2008-09 prices) for cars. Motorcycle tolls are set at half the car toll. A separate tolling regime applies to taxis. For more details, visit eastlink.com.au.
Yes, motorcycles are subject to tolls.
Motorcycle tolls are 50% of the car toll.
Motorcycles won't use tags. Instead, motorcyclists will need a non-tag account or a trip pass.
If you have a car and a motorcycle, you'll be able to have a tag account, with one tag for your car, and link the number plate details of your motorcycle to the same tag account.
Motorcycles won't be charged the video image processing fee that is usually charged in addition to the toll for each non-tag trip on EastLink.
For more details, visit eastlink.com.au.
Our advanced electronic tolling system allows car customers to take advantage of discounts including a discount of 20 per cent for travel at weekends and on public holidays and a discount of 20 per cent for (non-public holiday) weekday trips that comprise a single toll zone (except the tunnel section). These single zone trips are ideal for school pick-ups and local shopping trips.
Tunnel construction and maintenance are significantly more expensive than building and maintaining open roads and the higher tolls for this part of EastLink reflect this. There are a number of safety measures integrated into the design and construction of the tunnels in accordance with the standards required by emergency service authorities. However, at $2.22 per trip the EastLink tunnels are still the cheapest private tunnels per kilometre in Australia.
ConnectEast signed a contract with the State of Victoria in 2004 that will see it operate EastLink until 2043.
EastLink tolls are capped at the annual inflation rate. What this means is that in real terms people will essentially be paying the same to use this landmark piece of infrastructure in 2040 as they pay now.
EastLink is fully compatible with all other electronic tollroads in Australia. Motorists who already have a tag can travel on EastLink and the tolls will be charged automatically to their existing account.
There are no fees for opening either a tag or non-tag account and no minimum annual usage fees for car customers. There is an opening payment of $40 but this is a toll pre-payment.
If you have an account with another Australian tollroad then you need not do anything. If you don't have an account with us and did not buy a trip pass, then you will receive an invoice. The invoice is sent to the registered owner of the vehicle. The invoice includes the toll, an invoice fee from ConnectEast and a look-up fee to cover the cost of Vic Roads for obtaining address details. Motorists have 14 days to pay the invoice. A second invoice is then sent if payment is not made on the first invoice. If a motorist fails to pay the second invoice within 14 days, enforcement action will follow and the motorist may be fined.
Yes, for the first time discounts are available on a tollway in Australia. The toll discounts apply to cars using a tag or non-tag account and travelling as follows:
- Cars travelling at weekends and public holidays are eligible for a 20 per cent discount (this also applies to the toll cap)
- Cars travelling in a single toll zone (weekdays only, excluding trips through an EastLink tunnel or on public holidays) are also eligible for a 20 per cent discount.
For the infrequent user, a Trip Pass is available. This will cover you for a single trip of any length. The Trip Pass can be purchased up to 72 hours after a trip. You may also wish to consider opening a non-tag account.
ConnectEast opened the $2.5 billion motorway to Victorians on 29 June 2008 – on-budget and many months ahead of time. ConnectEast offered a four week toll-free period so that as many people as possible could experience first-hand the motorway and the benefits it provides.
ConnectEast must meet the requirements of a comprehensive Environmental Management Plan for the construction and operations phases of the project that has been reviewed as adequate by the State and Commonwealth.
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) maintains the day-to-day regulatory role in all pollution aspects of the project.
The entire landscape and wetland component of EastLink amounts to an area greater than the 480 hectares of parks and gardens currently existing in the City of Melbourne. EastLink is a new ‘green asset’ for the State and gradually ‘links up’ with the habitats and landscapes on either side of the roadway.
EastLink provides 60 constructed wetlands and water retention basins. The twin tunnels under the Mullum Mullum Valley help protect this unique valley environment.
More than 3.5 million native trees and shrubs have been planted on EastLink and several creeks and waterways have also been reinvigorated. As a result of EastLink, there will be less congestion on surrounding arterial roads and reduced stop-start traffic will cut vehicle pollution.
EastLink must meet VicRoads' noise standards that apply to all new urban freeways. Noisewalls have been specifically designed to achieve this standard and minimise the impact of noise on surrounding communities.
The tunnels have been designed with driver safety as the highest priority. The safety systems meet the standards required by emergency services authorities. Before the tunnels opened to traffic, a full emergency exercise was carried out involving all the emergency services to test the tunnel safety features and operating plans.
The key features of the emergency system include:
• Automatic incident detection
• Deluge system for fire suppression
• Radio rebroadcast and PA systems
• Smoke management exhaust system – using jet fans
• Heat detectors
• Overhead warning message signs and emergency lighting
• Help telephones and mobile telephone coverage
• 14 cross passages between the two tunnels every 120 metres to provide immediate access
• Lane closure and variable speed signs.
Every section of the EastLink motorway is distinctive and memorable. There are creatively designed ventilation towers, tunnel entrances, pedestrian overpasses, noise walls, exposed rock features and extensive landscaping.
There are also four large-scale artworks along the roadside and many smaller works located along the shared use path.
ConnectEast is committed to a quality urban design outcome for motorists and adjacent communities.