CityLink

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the rail vehicles of the same name, see Vossloh Citylink .

CityLink
Western Link: Southern Link:
Basic data
Operator:	VicRoads
Start of the street:	Tullamarine Freeway Essendon ( Melbourne ) ( VIC ) ( 37 ° 44 ′  S , 144 ° 55 ′  E )
End of street:	Monash Freeway Kooyong ( Melbourne ) ( VIC ) ( 37 ° 51 ′  S , 145 ° 2 ′  E )
Overall length:	22 km
States :	Victoria

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

CityLink is a system of toll city highways in Melbourne in the south of the Australian state of Victoria . The company Transurban was commissioned to build and operate two efficient road connections in the inner city of Melbourne, which connect already existing freeways, so that a fast passage through the inner city becomes possible. These are the Southern Link , which connects the Monash Freeway in Kooyong with the West Gate Freeway in South Melbourne , and the Western Link , which connects the Tullamarine Freeway in Essendon with the West Gate Freeway in Port Melbourne .

history

The southern and western bypasses of the inner city were first mentioned in the Melbourne Transportation Plan in 1969. The plan recommended that corridors and funds be reserved for the inner city bypasses. Together with the Eastern Freeway , the two inner city bypasses were among the few freeways in the plan that were not later discarded.

The intention to build CityLink was first announced in May 1992 and officially confirmed by the state government in mid-1994. The contract was awarded in 1995 to Transurban , a consortium of the Australian Transfield Services and the Japanese Ōbayashi Gumi . In 1996 the total financial volume of the project was estimated at AU $ 1.8 billion and the operating contract will expire in 2035.

CityLink was built in 1996-2000 and was eight times the volume of any other Melbourne road project at the time. Manually operated toll booths were considered impractical and would have delayed traffic to such an extent that the benefit of the new expressways would have almost disappeared. In 1992 it was decided to plan for electronic toll collection, although at that time there was little practical experience with such a system. The first construction phase was opened to traffic in August 1999 and toll collection began on January 3, 2000, before the project was completed on December 28, 2000.

The extension of Exhibition Street was not part of the original project, the purpose of which was to divert traffic around the city center. Under an April 1998 contract, Transurban was to operate the roads and collect tolls from users, with the roads scheduled to open in October 1999.

Existing freeways

Before there were four different freeways in the city center:

• Monash Freeway (formerly also South Eastern Freeway, South Eastern Arterial Road and Mulgrave Freeway on different sections). It begins about 2 km southeast of the city and connects Melbourne with western Gippsland
• M2 / Tullamarine Freeway , which started 5 km northwest of the city and connects Melbourne with its airport. It also connects to the Calder Freeway thatconnectsMelbourne with Bendigo .
• West Gate Freeway (formerly also Lower Yarra Freeway ), which began in Port Melbourne, immediately southwest of the city, crosses the Yarra River on the West Gate Bridge and provides the connection to the Princes Freeway and the Western Ring Road .
• M3 Eastern Freeway connecting Collingwood to the eastern and northeastern suburbs of Melbourne.

CityLink included the widening and expansion of the downtown sections of the Tullamarine Freeway and the Monash Freeway. Tolls were also levied for these expanded sections, which aroused much criticism from users.

New freeways

Western link

Soundproof cover in Flemington to protect the residential towers next door

Junction area of ​​the Burnley Tunnel, Domain Tunnel, Westgate Freeway and the driveways to Power Street and Kings Way

The high altitude Western Link extends the Tullamarine Freeway by 5 km to the south to the West Gate Freeway in Port Melbourne. It includes a large new bridge over the Yarra River, the Bolte Bridge , which was named after the former Prime Minister of Victoria, Henry Bolte (1908–1990). In Flemington , where the street passes a few apartment towers, it has a tubular soundproof cover. Just north of the soundproof cover, a large sculpture called "Melbourne International Gateway" was erected, made up of a gigantic yellow stick across the street (the people called it Cheesestick ) and a row of smaller red sticks next to the street (the The population called it Zipper or Rack of Lamb (German: zipper or back of lamb)). The Tullamarine Freeway between Bell Street and Flemington Road was also widened with a through lane in each direction.

This section of the route was named Freeway Corridor F14 in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan .

Southern Link

The underground Southern Link connects the ends of the Monash Freeway and the West Gate Freeway to form a continuous urban highway. The road consists of the Burnley Tunnel and the Domain Tunnel in opposite directions that pass under the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Yarra River. The road also includes a connection from the Monash Freeway to downtown via a bridge extending from Exhibition Street , which runs over the nearby railway line.

This section of the route was referred to as Freeway Corridor F9 in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan .

Important junctions and junctions

Western link

CityLink /
Connections to the north	Distance to Melbourne Airport (km)	Distance to downtown Melbourne (km)	Connections to the south
At the end of CityLink continue as the Tullamarine Freeway to Bendigo / Sydney	13	10	Start of CityLink from the Tullamarine Freeway
RAILWAY LINE NORTH EAST			RAILWAY LINE NORTH EAST
Strathmore, Broadmeadows Pascoe Vale Road
Essendon , Thornbury Moreland Road	15th	8th	no exit
no exit	17th	6th	Brunswick , Northcote Brunswick Road Moonee Ponds , Ascot Vale , Maribyrnong Ormond Road
no exit	19th	4th	Parkville, downtown Melbourne Flemington Road
Connections to the north	Distance to Melbourne Airport (km)	Distance to (km)	Connections to the south
to Eastern Freeway Kensington, Parkville Racecourse Road	18th	7th	RAILWAY LINE TO UPFIELD
RAILWAY LINE TO UPFIELD
RAILWAY LINE NORTH-EAST / RAILWAY LINE WEST / RAILWAY LINE TO PORT FAIRY	21st	4th	Downtown Melbourne , Footscray Dynon Road
			RAILWAY LINE NORTH-EAST / RAILWAY LINE WEST / RAILWAY LINE TO PORT FAIRY
Footscray, Docklands Footscray Road	23	2	Docklands, Footscray Footscray Road
BOLTE BRIDGE	24	1	BOLTE BRIDGE
Connections to the north	Exit No. Distance to Melbourne Airport		Connections to the south
Start CityLink further from West Gate Freeway	- (25 km)		End of CityLink
	3		Docklands Lorimer Street
	2		St. Kilda , Frankston Kings Way (Princes Highway)
	1E		Downtown Melbourne , Dandenong , Warragul West Gate Freeway
	1W		West Gate Bridge , Geelong West Gate Freeway

Note: exits are only numbered at the intersection of the .

Southern Link

CityLink
Connections to the west	Exit no.	Connections to the east
At the end of CityLink (Domain Tunnel) continue as West Gate Freeway to Ballarat / Bendigo / Geelong	-	Start of CityLink (Burnley Tunnel) from West Gate Freeway
DOMAIN TUNNEL	-	BURNLEY TUNNEL no access to exits E1 and E2
Melbourne downtown Batman Avenue	E1	Start of CityLink (Batman Avenue Extension) from Batman Avenue
Richmond , Clifton Hill Punt Road	E2	no exit
RAILWAY LINE TO SANDRINGHAM / RAILWAY LINE TO FRANKSTON / GIPPSLAND RAILWAY LINE	-	RAILWAY LINE TO SANDRINGHAM / RAILWAY LINE TO FRANKSTON / GIPPSLAND RAILWAY LINE
no exit	-	Cremorne Church Street
Burnley Yarra Boulevard	E3	Burnley Burnley Street
		CityLink (extension of Batman Avenue) merges with CityLink (Burnley Tunnel)
RAILWAY LINE TO GLEN WAVERLEY	-	RAILWAY LINE TO GLEN WAVERLEY
Start of CityLink from the Monash Freeway	E4	Burwood, Toorak Toorak Road
		At the end of CityLink, continue as Monash Freeway to Dandenong / Warragul

Web links

• Official website of the City Link (English)
• Official Website of Trans Urban (English)

literature

Steve Parish: Australian Touring Atlas . Steve Parish Publishing. Archerfield QLD 2007. ISBN 978-1-74193-232-4 . Pp. 40 + 41

Individual evidence

1. ^ Public Accounts and Estimates: Report on private investment in public infrastructure Committee . PDF from October 2006, p. 63. Ed. By: Parliament of Victoria Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, ISBN 0-9758189-1-0 . Retrieved January 14, 2017.
2. ^ MG Lay, KF Daley: The Melbourne City Link Project. In: Transport Policy. 9, 2002, p. 261, doi: 10.1016 / S0967-070X (02) 00020-3 .
3. ^ ^{A b} VicRoads: Project Overview: CityLink . www.vicroads.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on July 23, 2008. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 17, 2008. 
4. ^ Public Transport Users Association: Myth: The purpose of freeways is to bypass congested areas . www.ptua.org.au. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
5. ^ Exhibition Street Extension Opening (PDF) www.transurban.com.au. October 26, 1999. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2008.