Peninsula Link: Australia's first availability public–private partnership highway

Abstract

The 27 km Peninsula Link in Melbourne, Australia completed a missing section of the city's freeway network in January 2013. It has nine grade-separated interchanges connecting into 11 existing roads and includes three freeway-to-freeway connections. Construction involved 45 separate bridge structures, 3 million m3 of earthworks, 1·5 million trees and shrubs – plus numerous sculptures and artworks. In a national first, the A$759 million (£500 million) project was delivered as an ‘availability public–private partnership’, enabling it to be delivered toll-free while making use of private-sector innovation in financing, construction and maintenance. It set a new national benchmark for its delivery model, design considerations and construction methods.