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The Grapevine
Adam Dimech’s Blog

North-East Link: A portrait of progress

As Melbourne’s North-East Link freeway construction progress continues, its impact is felt upon the residents of Macleod and Watsonia.

The North-East Link Project is a major infrastructure initiative aimed at improving road connectivity in Melbourne’s northern and eastern suburbs. The project involves the construction of a new freeway, which will connect the M80 Ring Road to the Eastern Freeway, helping to reduce traffic congestion, improve travel times, and enhance transport links across the region.

Whilst it will be convenient when finished, North-East Link’s impact on local residents in Watsonia and Macleod cannot be denied with the former suburb effectively cut in two. I decided to head out to Watsonia and Macleod and document some of the impacts in a small photographic essay.

Cars travelling down both sides of a road, separated by temporary barriers.
Looking north along Greensborough Highway towards Grimshaw Road.
Cars travelling down both sides of a road, separated by temporary barriers. Hills and further construction are visible in the distance.
Little of the old Greensborough Highway is recognisable as works are undertaken to build North-East Link.

Greensborough Highway will eventually be moved westwards and the new freeway will replace it. But first, a rail tunnel needs to be extended. As works are undertaken, the road is periodically shifted to permit various aspects of the works to be undertaken.

A suburban passenger train travelling along a railway line in a trench, with a concrete wall under construction beside it.
A train slowly approaches the construction site as it heads south from Greensborough to Watsonia railway stations.

The impact on some residents is stark. In some cases, construction immediately abuts residential properties and the works often continue throughout the night.

A large crane next to a house, which appears to be dwarfed by the size of the structure beside it. The two are separated by a fence.
A house in Service Road, Watsonia, is overshadowed by a large construction crane.
Close-up of a large crane gantry with a roof gable from a house in the foreground.
Houses and construction infrastructure have to co-exist.
View along a street.
This residential street (Service Road, Watsonia), is narrowed to facilitate freeway construction.
View along a street.
Artworks adorn a construction wall in Somers Avenue in Macleod, where Winsor Reserve once stood.

Temporary structures, including large sheds and bridges, have been constructed on either side of Greensborough Highway in Macleod to enable the processing of waste from the tunnel diggings. One of the sheds has been built over Winsor Reserve, which will be restored once the construction is completed and the temporary buildings dismantled.

View along a street.
A temporary bridge spanning Greensborough Road in Macleod.
The view beneath the temporary bridge linking works sheds on either side of Greensborough Road.
A shed.
A temporary works shed on the eastern side of Greensborough Road in Macleod.

Looking down Greensborough Road in Macleod, one is greeted with a sea of cranes and other construction equipment.

View along a street.
The area east of Greensborough Road in Macleod was forested Department of Defence land, but will become the site of the North-East Link freeway.
   

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