The Melbourne City Link Project

This paper explores the conception, development, design and operation of the Melbourne City Link Project--one of the world's first and largest fully electronic road tolling systems. The geographic, political and transport contexts of the project are described, including the transport need for the project and the reason why it was developed as a toll system relying totally on electronic toll collection. The operation of the project is then described with respect to the design assumptions and expectations. The methods of project funding and subsequent toll collection are described in some detail. The project is seen to have been a success, technically, politically and socially.