The Benefits
EastLink provides a range of benefits for drivers, businesses, cyclists, pedestrians, public transport users and the environment.
Benefits for drivers
You will save time by travelling at motorway speeds on EastLink, compared to slower, more congested local roads such as Stud Road and Springvale Road. Over its full length, EastLink by-passes at least 45 traffic lights, saving time and fuel, and reducing wear and tear on your vehicle.
Your travel times should also be more reliable when using EastLink.
Vehicles using EastLink will mean fewer vehicles on local roads - so some of your local journeys may become easier.
Find out more and open your Breeze account online.
Benefits for businesses
EastLink may assist your business by reducing time wasted in congestion and on slower local roads. Your delivery vehicles and sales people may be able to make more deliveries or sales calls each day.
By reducing travel times in Melbourne's east, EastLink may provide your business with the opportunity to acquire new customers, in areas that are currently too far away.
You may even be able to consolidate or relocate parts of your business near to one of the major new intersections.
Find out what these organisations say about EastLink's benefits:
EastLink and the Victorian Transport Association (342.2 Kb)
EastLink and Veolia Environmental Services (333.6 Kb)
EastLink and Woolworths (340.9 Kb)
Benefits for cyclists and pedestrians
The new 35 km EastLink Trail for cyclists and pedestrians provides new leisure opportunities, with access to open spaces, parks and reserves. The EastLink Trail connects with other trail networks, leading to the City, the Bay, and many other destinations.
Cyclists and pedestrians should benefit from increased safety, resulting from vehicles using EastLink instead of local roads.
Map of the EastLink Trail (7.9 Mb)
Benefits for the environment
The EastLink Environment includes about 70 permanent and seasonal wetlands to filter rainwater running off the road surface. These wetlands have created new habitats for native species. Around 4 million native plants and trees have been planted in more than 480 hectares of landscaping and wetlands - an area greater than the City of Melbourne's parks and gardens.
Two tunnels protect the environmentally sensitive Mullum Mullum Valley.
Benefits for public transport users
ConnectEast, the owner and operator of EastLink, contributed $20 million towards major upgrades to railway stations at Dandenong, Heatherdale, Kananook and Noble Park.