CityLink
Length	22 km
Direction	Western link: North – South Southern link: West – East
Start	Tullamarine Freeway
Primary destinations	Melbourne Airport Melbourne CBD Northern suburbs Eastern suburbs
End	Monash Freeway
Construction dates	May 1996 - August 1999
Major junctions	West Gate Freeway Tullamarine Freeway Calder Freeway Monash Freeway
Owner	Transurban Limited
Operator	Transurban Limited

CityLink is a tolled freeway system in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company Transurban was awarded the contract to construct two new freeways - labelled the Western and Southern Links - directly linking a number of existing freeways to provide a continuous, high-capacity road route to, and around, the central business district. Image File history File links CityLink. ... Heading through the Sound Tube on the Tullamarine Freeway Tullamarine Freeway is a Melbourne freeway linking the citys international airport to the CBD. History Tullamarine Freeway is one of the oldest freeways in Melbourne. ... The colour scheme used to denote a primary route. ... Melbourne Airport (IATA: MEL, ICAO: YMML) is located to the north of the city, adjacent to the suburb of Tullamarine, Victoria, Australia. ... Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 3. ... The central business district of Melbourne, Australia. ... Monash Freeway is a freeway linking Melbournes CBD to its southeastern suburbs and the Gippsland region. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... West Gate Freeway is a freeway in Melbourne linking Geelong to Melbourne CBD and beyond. ... Heading through the Sound Tube on the Tullamarine Freeway Tullamarine Freeway is a Melbourne freeway linking the citys international airport to the CBD. History Tullamarine Freeway is one of the oldest freeways in Melbourne. ... Calder Freeway M79 is freeway linking Melbourne to Bendigo. ... Monash Freeway is a freeway linking Melbournes CBD to its southeastern suburbs and the Gippsland region. ... Transurban is an Australian transnational corporation which buys toll roads all over the world. ... Transurban is an Australian transnational corporation which buys toll roads all over the world. ... A high-speed toll booth on SR 417 near Orlando, Florida A toll gate on the Sayama bypass (Saitama prefectural road 397) in Japan A toll gate on the Dom Pedro I Highway near the city of Itatiba, Brazil A New Jersey Turnpike Toll Gate for Exit 8A in Monroe... High-capacity freeway interchange in Los Angeles, California. ... Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 3. ... Emblems: Pink heath (floral) helmeted honeyeater (bird) Leadbeaters possum (faunal) Motto: Peace and Prosperity Slogan or Nickname: Garden State, The Place To Be, On The Move Other Australian states and territories Capital Melbourne Government Governor Premier Const. ... Transurban is an Australian transnational Corporation which buys toll roads all over the world. ... Schematic plan of Hoddles allotments for the village of Melbourne, March,1837 Each block was further subdivided into 20 allotments each 76 perches in area Map of central Melbourne Melbournes CBD. The Hoddle Grid is the layout of the streets in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. ...

Previously, the city centre was served by four separate freeways:

• The Monash Freeway (also previously known as the South Eastern Freeway, South Eastern Arterial, and Mulgrave Freeway in different sections of the existing route) which had begun approximately 10 km south-east of the city, and connects Melbourne to the outlying rural Gippsland area;
• The Tullamarine Freeway which had begun approximately 5 km north-west of the city, and links Melbourne to Tullamarine Airport, and also joins the Calder Freeway, which links Melbourne to Bendigo;
• The West Gate Freeway (also previously known as the Lower Yarra Freeway) which had begun near Port Melbourne, just southwest of the city, crossing the Yarra River using the West Gate Bridge and joins to both the Princes Freeway (linking to Geelong) and the Western Ring Road;
• The Eastern Freeway which begins near Collingwood, passing through Melbourne's eastern and north-eastern suburbs.

Monash Freeway is a freeway linking Melbournes CBD to its southeastern suburbs and the Gippsland region. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μέτρο (metro) = count/measure). ... Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. ... Heading through the Sound Tube on the Tullamarine Freeway Tullamarine Freeway is a Melbourne freeway linking the citys international airport to the CBD. History Tullamarine Freeway is one of the oldest freeways in Melbourne. ... Melbourne Airport (IATA: MEL, ICAO: YMML) is located to the north of the city, adjacent to the suburb of Tullamarine, Victoria, Australia. ... Calder Freeway M79 is freeway linking Melbourne to Bendigo. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... West Gate Freeway is a freeway in Melbourne linking Geelong to Melbourne CBD and beyond. ... Port Melbourne is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... The West Gate Bridge, Melbourne The West Gate Bridge is a large cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... Princes Freeway M1 links Melbourne to Geelong on the west and Traralgon on the east. ... Moorabool St, Geelong A view of Corio Bay from Moorabool Street. ... Western Ring Road is a freeway in Melbourne connecting the northern suburbs and the western suburbs to interstate freeways. ... Eastern Freeway is a Melbourne freeway linking eastern suburbs to the city. ... Collingwood is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... Housing subdivision near Union, Kentucky, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. ...

New freeways

The elevated Western Link extends the existing Tullamarine Freeway, lengthening it to terminate it 5 kilometres further south at the West Gate Freeway in Port Melbourne. It includes a new major bridge (the Bolte Bridge, named after former Premier Sir Henry Bolte) over the Yarra River in the Docklands; and a tube-like sound barrier in Flemington where the road passes close to a number of community housing towers (known disparagingly to locals as "Jeff's condom", in reference to Jeff Kennett, the Premier of Victoria at the time of construction). A short distance to the north of the sound tube, a massive sculptural work was placed, called the Melbourne International Gateway (locals also disparagingly dubbing it "Jeff's Erect"), comprising of a giant yellow beam hanging diagonally across the road (nicknamed the "Cheesestick") and a row of smaller red beams alongside the road (the "Ribcage"). The Bolte Bridge, Melbourne The Bolte Bridge is a large twin Cantilever bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... List of Premiers of Victoria Before the 1890s there was no formal party system in Victoria. ... Sir Henry Bolte Sir Henry Edward Bolte (20 May 1908 - 4 January 1990), Australian politician, was the longest serving Premier of the state of Victoria. ... Melbourne as seen from south-east side along the Yarra River, home of many rowers and active crew teams The Yarra River is a river in southern Victoria (Australia); it is the river on which the city of Melbourne was founded. ... The Melbourne Docklands (postcode: 3008) is an urban redevelopment project in Melbourne, Australia. ... Flemington is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...

The underground Southern Link directly connects the ends of the West Gate and Monash Freeways into one continuous through-way. This link comprises of the Burnley and Domain Tunnels which pass under the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Yarra River, each tunnel channeling traffic in different directions. This link also includes a connection to the CBD from the Monash Freeway over a bridge extension of Exhibition Street over the nearby railway lines. A east-bound tunnel joining the West Gate Freeway to the Monash Freeway in Melbourne, Australia. ... A west-bound tunnel joining the Monash Freeway to the West Gate Freeway in Melbourne, Australia. ... One of many delightful vistas in Melbournes Royal Botanic Gardens. ... Exhibition St, looking north from Bourke St Exhibition Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne. ...

CityLink contains 22 km of entirely new roads, as well as considerable widening of parts of the Tullamarine and Monash Freeways. Subsequently, parts of these older roads became tolled along with the new. This has attracted varied criticism by users of the road system, annoyed that they now have to pay tolls for sections of road that were previously free: even though they had received extensive upgrading and widening, most road users never had a choice in the decision to do so. Travelling on side streets is often a faster method of travel dependant upon prevailing conditions on the freeway, which is subject to heavy congestion during peak hours. The people of Melbourne are more familiar with its colloquial name, "The South Eastern Carpark". In general terms, there are a high percentage of Melbourne drivers significantly disappointed with the Freeways performance during peak traffic. Although this freeway is modern and the tolling system is reasonably efficient, after travel is completed there is simply nowhere to go, as the freeway funnels into traffic lights and small roads leading to large scale gridlock. Gridlock is one of the features of the tollway which was supposed to be alleviated by its construction.

Tolling system

There are no toll booths along the entire length of the system, so traffic flow is not impeded.

CityLink uses a toll system called e-TAG, where an electronic tag is placed on the inside of the vehicles' windscreen. Gantries constructed over each carriageway, carrying toll sensors, track vehicles and deduct toll amounts automatically from the account linked electronically to each tag. Where a tag is not detected, the vehicle's number plate is recorded using an automatic number plate recognition system and the driver issued an invoice via the transport registry in their state, unless they have pre-registered (and paid for) their number plate over the phone before using the system. A "daypass" can be purchased in advance from customer centres or post offices, or up to three days after travelling, before an invoice is recorded. Many ETC systems use transponders like this one to electronically debit the accounts of registered cars without their stopping Transponder used in some Chilean freeways Electronic toll collection (ETC), an adaptation of military identification friend or foe technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads. ... // Introduction A license plate, number plate or registration plate (often referred to simply as a plate, or colloquially tag) is a small metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle for official identification purposes. ... The system must be able to deal with different styles of licence plates Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) is a mass surveillance method that uses optical character recognition on images to read the licence plates on vehicles. ... The Australian States and Territories make up the Commonwealth of Australia under a federal system of government. ...

The system came under fire in 2003 when it was found that e-TAGs did not warn drivers when their batteries were running low, and non-functioning batteries caused vehicles not to be detected by the toll sensors, thereby attracting additonal charges for registered vehicles. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Interchanges

The tolled section begins on the Tullamarine Freeway (43/79) south of Bell Street (40). Interchanges on the tolled section of the Tullamarine Freeway are: Heading through the Sound Tube on the Tullamarine Freeway Tullamarine Freeway is a Melbourne freeway linking the citys international airport to the CBD. History Tullamarine Freeway is one of the oldest freeways in Melbourne. ...

• Bell Street (40), Pascoe Vale;
• Moreland Roadd, Brunswick (city-bound ramps only);
• Ormond Road/Brunswick Road (38), Moonee Ponds (airport-bound ramps only);
• Mt Alexander Road (79), Parkville (airport-bound ramps only).

The freeway then officially becomes the Citylink "Western Link":

• Racecourse Road (8/83), Flemington (city-bound ramps only);
• Dynon Road (50), North Melbourne (airport-bound ramps only);
• Footscray Road (32), North Melbourne.

The Western Link ends, and cars are diverted onto the West Gate Freeway (M1/2), which is not tolled. The West Gate follows west to cross the Yarra over the West Gate Bridge, and also east:

• Montague Street (2/30/31), South Melbourne;
• Kings Way (79/Alt-1), Southbank;
• Power Street/Sturt Street, Southbank.

The freeway then officially becomes the Citylink "Southern Link":

The West Gate Freeway then flows into the tolled tunnels: the east-bound Burnley Tunnel (resurfacing at the Barkly Avenue exit on the Monash Freeway), and the west-bound Domain tunnel (travelling under Batman Avenue on the Monash Freeway). Interchanges on the tolled section of the Monash Freeway are:

• Barkly Avenue, Richmond (city-bound ramps only);
• Yarra Boulevard (2) (suburb-bound ramps only);
• Toorak Road (26).

The Southern Link continues on as the untolled Monash Freeway, eventually ending as the Princes Freeway 45km later, 5km west of Pakenham. Pakenham is a town 56 km south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, currently growing rapidly and in the process of becoming a suburb of Melbourne. ...

See also

• Freeways in Victoria

Melbourne in Victoria is served by a freeway network which is the earliest and the most extensive in Australia. ...

External links

• CityLink official website
• Transurban official website