Tunnelling has been suspended on Victoria's A$26bn North East Link project after a large sinkhole opened in a sporting ground in Melbourne's north-east. The hole appeared at A J Burkitt oval in Heidelberg, close to the route of the project's two tunnel boring machines, Zelda and Gillian.
The State Emergency Service said the sinkhole is about five metres deep and measures roughly eight metres by eight metres. No injuries or property damage have been reported, but the area has been cordoned off, with the public urged to avoid the site.
Victoria's transport minister, Gabrielle Williams, confirmed that construction was being investigated as one of the potential causes. "Importantly, there's no immediate risks to the community or residences in that area," she told reporters on Tuesday.
Duncan Elliott, chief executive of the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority Roads (Vida), said tunnelling would not resume until a "very big" investigation had been completed. He added that it was too early to say what caused the sinkhole, although Vida was confident the boring machines had been a contributing factor.
Banyule city council warned residents to stay away from the reserve, with Victoria Police having cordoned off the affected area. The construction consortium, Spark, has taken control of the site for assessments. The incident follows a similar sinkhole last February near the same machines at Lower Plenty, which also halted tunnelling.
The North East Link, which will connect the Eastern Freeway at Bulleen with the Metropolitan Ring Road at Greensborough, is expected to remove 15,000 trucks from local roads daily and cut travel times by up to 35 minutes. A project spokesperson said the area had been secured and crews were monitoring the site closely.
