North East Link

2023 ➡️ 2024 With tunnelling underway, here’s how far sites on North East Link have come since early 2023.

Our Careers & Skills Advisors recently joined tunnels contractors Spark North East Link Tunnels D&C and teams from Major Road Projects Victoria's M80 Ring Road Completion and the Eastern Freeway Upgrades at Workforce Australia’s ‘Be Deadly Jobs Fair’. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet Aboriginal jobseekers and their families to discuss the many jobs available on the project, from construction to corporate, environmental, design, planning and engineering. The event at the Aboriginal Advancement League building in Thornbury began with a Welcome to Country from Wurundjeri /Yorta Yorta Elder Aunty Zeta Thomson.

Hyperbaric chamber Noun A pressurised room that delivers pure oxygen to help treat decompression sickness – a symptom of people working deep below sea level. Each tunnel boring machine helping dig the North East Link tunnels is equipped with one of these chambers to help keep workers safe. Geoff explains the training involved to work these lifesaving rooms.

It’s not just our 4000-tonne TBMs that get names. This 118-tonne roadheader working on the 270-metre-long vent tunnel was given a name too – Melissa - a tribute to construction manager Peng’s daughter. 😊 Roadheader ‘Melissa’ has finished her work on the northern end of the project and will be used again in the south in the months to come.

12 weeks of works in 26 seconds ⏱️ Between June and September, Major Road Projects Victoria crews working on the M80 Ring Road Completion have carried out works to move Greensborough Highway at Watsonia Road - creating the space needed to build the Watsonia Road landscaped bridge and connection to the North East Link tunnels. A new green bridge will also connect locals to Watsonia shopping precinct and brand-new commuter parking at Watsonia Station. Across the works, crews poured more than 7,800 tonnes of asphalt, completed over 5.8 kilometres of line marking, installed a new signalised intersection and traffic managed more than 65,000 vehicles during the final weekend blitz! This temporary realignment will be in place until mid–2026 and we’ll make further changes to the intersection as construction progresses. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4dVOOhM

‘Sustainability initiatives are interesting. The biggest impact ones, you usually can’t see’. Jessamine, Senior Sustainability Advisor working on the North East Link tunnels, explains how sometimes small innovations translate to sizeable reductions in carbon emissions.

What’s that? Ever wonder what that massive, enclosed structure over Greensborough Road in Watsonia is? Watch this and find out 👀

‘We want to create a culturally safe space where they can train and learn, but also grow as people’ says Kaelun, Director of Pathway Plumbing about Willan Program. An important partnership between Willan Program and North East Link is providing 10 weeks of pre-employment training to young Aboriginal people from backgrounds of unemployment. Upon completion, participants receive a Certificate 2 in Construction Pathways and opportunities to work on the North East Link tunnels. The program was established through a collaboration with Aboriginal business, Pathway Plumbing, and is one way over 118,000 hours were worked by First Nations people on North East Link in 2023.

1 down 43,999 to go 🔗 As tunnel boring machine (TBM) Zelda makes her way to Bulleen, over 100 segments that will make up the North East Link tunnel walls have already been laid. Here you can see the first segments being transported into the TBM and fitted in place!

‘It’s close to home and it puts me at home each night with my family instead of being out on the road’. The LS Precast facility in Benalla is the largest in Victoria and not only is it manufacturing 46,000 concrete segments to line the 6.5km North East Link Tunnels, it’s providing jobs close to home for locals like Sarah and Charmaine. The facility is currently employing around 120 people. Over the life of the North East Link project 12,000 jobs will be created across Victoria. Watch to find out more about Sarah and Charmaine’s role at the facilities and to find out about job opportunities on the North East Link project visit https://bit.ly/3TAlqEV