page_title: EastLink (Melbourne)
section_title: Shared path
hierarchical_section_title: EastLink (Melbourne) / Shared path
caption_attribution_description: English: The view of EastLink, Melbourne to the north taken from the Heatherton Road bridge during October 2007 when the tolled freeway was nearing completion. Can be used by anyone for any purpose.
context_page_description: EastLink is a tolled section of the M3 freeway linking a large area through the eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. It is a part of Melbourne's Metropolitan Ring Road project.
  EastLink is electronically tolled with no cash booths, using a system developed by SICE. The SICE Tolling System is similar to the e-TAG system used on the CityLink tollway. EastLink was opened to traffic on Sunday 29 June 2008 and in conjunction with the opening, a month-long toll-free period occurred before regular tolling commenced on 27 July 2008.
  The project was constructed by a joint venture of Australian construction companies Thiess Contractors and John Holland, with tolling system contracted to SICE, and mechanical and electrical work contracted to United Group Infrastructure. The final project cost was A$2.5 billion.
  Signs are at the entrances and on the tollway direct to Ringwood, Dandenong, Frankston and Doncaster.
context_section_description: The EastLink Trail is a shared walking and cycle path that follows a similar North/South route to the EastLink project. Using it, cyclists and pedestrians are able to cycle or walk most of the distance of the road, along a 3-metre wide dedicated concrete path. Many major roads are crossed via under or over passes. Some roads, such as High Street Road (and until November 2009, Burwood Highway), require crossing the road at grade.
  In wet weather, two underpasses are not trafficable as they have been built on floodways. These are the Ferntree Gully Road underpass and the Wellington Road underpass. After a medium amount of rain the underpasses flood and trail users must cross over the major roads to continue along the path. This can prove dangerous and during peak traffic times, trail users are known to have waited up to 20 minutes to safely cross the roads when the underpasses have flooded.
  The Eastlink trail stops in Dandenong and does not continue. Users may take the Dandenong Creek Trail from this point which will take them to Carrum, where they will be able to join the under construction Peninsula Link trail to Frankston and when completed, Mornington.
  For those using the trail, substantial deviations from EastLink must be taken into account in travel times as the shared path does not follow the freeway in many cases as existing trails were joined up to the trails specifically built during the construction of the road. This has led to some very twisty sections of trail and in some cases, detours of over 3 km from the EastLink.
caption: A panoramic view of EastLink looking north from the Heatherton Road bridge.
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