Crews yet to resume work on $26bn North East Link after discovering sinkhole
Construction on the $26 billion North East Link project is at a stalemate nearly one week after crews located a sinkhole, prompting an emergency response and immediate shutdown.
Victoria
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Construction on the $26 billion North East Link project still hasn’t resumed almost one week since the project came to a halt after crews discovered a deep sinkhole.
Workers made the shock discovery on Thursday night as one of the mega road project’s two tunnel boring machines made its way towards Lower Plenty Rd.
In the latest stage, two boring machines are digging simultaneously to create twin 6.5km tunnels from Watsonia to Bulleen in Melbourne’s northeast.
An emergency response was triggered when one of the machine’s struck the sinkhole - reported to be about 18m deep - near an old Army Barracks site. No one was injured.
But Transport Infrastructure Minister Gabrielle Williams confirmed on Wednesday that work on the mammoth project was yet to resume.
“I understand they’re hopeful of getting the tunnel boring machines up and running in the coming days,” she said.
Crews had filled the sinkhole, Ms Williams added, but an investigation into the matter hadn’t yet been completed.
“I will be working with them to determine exactly what’s happened,” she said.
“They’re completing their investigations as an abundance of caution as they should do.
“They’re hopeful, and seem quite optimistic in their updates to me, that they’ll be in a position to get back to work ... in a matter of days.”
Crews are confident that no houses are in danger.
The North East Link, which is Victoria’s most expensive road project, will connect the M80 Ring Rd with the Eastern Fwy.
It was first spruiked in 2016 to cost just $10bn but was later revised to $15.8bn when designs were locked in.
In December 2023, the government conceded the cost of building the project had again blown out to now weigh in at $26bn.
The project is expected to open in 2028.
Originally published as Crews yet to resume work on $26bn North East Link after discovering sinkhole
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