The last of the Victorian Labor Government’s summer construction blitz wraps up tonight with major works completed on the West Gate Freeway, Shepherd Bridge in Footscray and the Tullamarine Freeway as part of the CityLink Tulla Widening Project.
This work, which will benefit many thousands of TWU members, included the full demolition and re-build in only 23 days of the English Street bridge – which spans the Tulla from Matthews Avenue into Essendon Fields.
From midnight tonight, members based in Essendon Fields will again be able to cross English Street bridge – which is predicted to be fully-completed by mid-2017.
The CityLink Tulla Widening project is scheduled to be completed by mid-2018.
Minister for Roads Luke Donnellan said that, following the Tulla works, drivers should save, on average, 16 minutes in the morning peak and 17 minutes in the afternoon peak.
Since the bridge closed on January 3, excavators, concrete breakers and steel cutters were used to demolish the old bridge and remove 1600 tonnes of steel and rubble, and 15 X 38 m long beams were then lifted into place by giant cranes.
Once completed the bridge will be open to four lanes in each direction and include a shared user path for pedestrian and cyclists on each side to increase capacity between the growing Essendon Fields and Airport West areas.