Essay on Sustainability at EastLink Engineering Project

Sustainability, which is the definition of â€Å"the process of using, conserving and enhancing a community’s resources†, plays a significant part in large engineering projects such as EastLink. EastLink’s long-term goal is to provide a fast, lasting alternative for drivers to commute between eastern suburbs. For a project that had a final total cost of $2.5B, sustainability, that is ensuring that its relevance and usefulness to the society today and for the foreseeable future is a pivotal part of EastLink. Permanent projects that demand large commitment and resources are the ones that need to heed the concept of sustainability the most, as often there is no going back once construction of such a project has begun. Just like it is with†¦show more content†¦Two significant decisions that have affected the EastLink project are firstly, the decision to develop EastLink as a tollway and secondly, an environmental issue involving potential damage that would b e caused to the nearby Mullum Mullum Valley. EastLink was a multibillion-dollar project, and its funding stemmed primarily from the Federal government, however as the project progressed, the Victorian Government switched to the stance that the EastLink project was no longer viable as a toll free road which subsequently led to the termination of the partial Federal government funding for EastLink. The Federal government’s reasoning being that it would only provide support and funding for projects that were toll free, hence the Victorian Government’s initial promise. The Victorian Government’s decision to have EastLink be a tolled motorway is one influenced by the operating and development costs of such a large civil project and is largely motivated by the financial return of such a project. These concerns were later shown as EastLink made a loss of nearly $93M in its first six months of operation, the largest reason being that being a tolled motorway, it would not attract as many motorists than it would†™ve being a toll free road. The second decision arose over the planning of the layout of EastLink, namely over the extent of environmental damage that would be caused