Excavation for the North East Link has reached another significant milestone with road headers breaking through in Bulleen in March, marking a key step in the construction of the 6.5 km twin tunnels that will connect Watsonia and Bulleen.  

The roaders are electric powered tunnelling machines that are used for finely controlled digging of a tunnel.  They can excavate up to almost 2000 t of rock each day and can break through rock three times harder than concrete.  

The road headers have been working since last year to excavate the 430 m section between Manningham Road and Trinity Grammar with the sequential excavation method (SEM) of tunnelling particularly suited to this section of the project.  

With the 5 road headers currently working on the project now having broken through at both ends of this section, they will soon continue excavating the lower half of the tunnel.  

North East Link will shift 14,700 cars and trucks a day off Bulleen Road and reduce travel times by up to 35 minutes, skipping 18 sets of traffic lights on trips to the airport. 

For further information on the project click here and au/36 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/. 15/25.