CityLink construction
CityLink connects three major Melbourne freeways - the West Gate, Tullamarine and Monash. It is a 22-kilometre motorway with two long tunnels, a major bridge over the Yarra River and an elevated roadway through Melbourne's western suburbs.
Construction began in May 1996, with CityLink fully opened to traffic in December 2000.
The CityLink project was designed to improve the road network in Melbourne by allowing a free flow of traffic using electronic tolling.
CityLink has transformed Melbourne's existing road network by connecting three of the four major freeways ending at the city fringe.
These include joining the Monash (formerly known as the South Eastern Freeway), Tullamarine and West Gate Freeways.
The Western Link comprises 13.4 kilometres of new and upgraded freeway connecting the Tullamarine Freeway to the West Gate Freeway.
The Southern Link comprises approximately eight kilometres of six-lane freeway connecting the West Gate Freeway to the Monash Freeway.
The Exhibition Street Extension Project (ESEP) was undertaken as a late modification to the CityLink project.
The ESEP (Batman Avenue from Flinders Street to the Monash Freeway) creates a direct link between Exhibition Street in the city and the Monash Freeway, and operates as a part of CityLink
The Burnley Tunnel is 3.4 kilometres and is one of the longest urban three-lane tunnels in the world. It carries east-bound traffic from the portal at the new Southbank interchange to join the Monash Freeway at Burnley.
The Burnley Tunnel, at its deepest point, is 65 metres below the ground. Driving through the Burnley Tunnel under normal operating conditions takes approximately two and a half minutes.
The Domain Tunnel is 1.6 kilometres long and runs westwards from its portal west of Punt Road to the Southbank interchange near Kingsway. The Domain Tunnel exits at the Southbank interchange, where motorists can continue onto the West Gate Freeway, or to take the Kingsway or Power Street exit.
The Domain Tunnel is approximately 25 metres deep and a journey through this tunnel under normal operating conditions takes just over a minute