Why the North-East Link needs the East-West Link (or Melbourne might need neither)

Road experts say the North-East Link will not work unless it’s connected to an East-West link.

An inquiry building the link has been told, the North-East connection alone, will create chronic queuing at the other end where it hits the Eastern Freeway.

Crystal Legacy, the University of Melbourne urban planning expert, told Ross and John one won’t work without the other.

And so she doesn’t want to see either.

“(Daniel Andrews) won an election saying the East-West Link was rubbish, and I agree with him — I think the East-West Link is rubbish and we should be prioritizing things other than big toll roads,” she said.

“But cynical politics are at play here; you create conditions for a road that no one wants until it absolutely becomes something they want and need.”

Ross and John weren’t convinced.

Click PLAY to hear the full conversation