Cost to motorists to drive on the $16bn North East Link a closely guarded secret

Want to know how much you will fork out to travel on Victoria’s $16bn North East Link? You may be waiting a while as the toll price is set to remain secret for years.

The price motorists will pay to travel on Victoria’s most expensive road will remain secret until later this decade.

More than 135,000 trips a day are expected to be made on the 26km North East Link by the mid-2030s, which would likely pour hundreds of millions of dollars a year into a new state tolling company.

The Andrews government says toll rates will be “in line with other toll prices in Melbourne” but has refused to outline their starting point until closer to the road opening in 2028 – despite a business case for the project using the data to prove the road’s economic worth.

More than 135,000 trips a day are expected to be made on the 26km North East Link by the mid-2030s.

The section of the business case with tolling information is redacted as “commercial in confidence”, but since then the government has chosen to set up its own tolling company and mechanism and will eventually disclose prices to state parliament.

A spokeswoman said: “Toll prices will be determined and tabled in parliament well before North East Link opens in 2028”.
“Tolling revenue (will) be retained by taxpayers to go towards the cost of building and maintaining North East Link,” she said.

The road, which will connect the Eastern Fwy to the M80 at Greensborough via a 6.5km tunnel, will cost at least $16bn to build, with major construction to begin this year.

The $10.6bn West Gate Tunnel, which will be operated by tolling giant Transurban, has had toll rates published years in advance of the project opening.

The Andrews government says toll rates will be ‘in line with other toll prices in Melbourne’. Picture: AAP

Transurban also operates CityLink toll roads, which injected more than $800m into the company’s coffers in 2018-19 – before the pandemic hit.

If a similar rate of revenue was achieved based on North East Link’s profile and traffic volume projections, it would likely deliver at least $130m into state coffers.

The government declined to respond to specific questions about revenue expected to be raised, but said cash collected by the State Tolling Corporation would cover operating and maintenance costs, as well as some of the capital build.

In response to questions from the Herald Sun, it said tolls would not go into consolidated revenue and prices would seek to “balance a commercial return to STC, value for motorists and optimal network outcomes” and that this was “best done closer to the road opening”.