Melbourne's new freeway will cost $6.5 billion more than initially forecast and will include the longest road tunnel in Victoria.
The North East Link will cost $16.5 billion - up from the $10 billion predicted in August - and connect the Eastern freeway with the Metropolitan Ring Road.
Premier Daniel Andrews says the extra cost is due to expansion of the Eastern, and a new road tunnel that will mean homes and sporting fields won't have to be forcibly acquired.
"At five kilometres, it will be the longest tunnel in our road network," Mr Andrews told reporters on Friday.
He said 75 homes and about 140 businesses will still be acquired, and owners were informed on Thursday night.
The new freeway will be tolled, but Mr Andrews also wants money from Canberra.
"They are funding everything in NSW, we'd just like a fairer share down here," he said.
The North East Link will connect to the ring road in Greensborough and travel through suburban Watsonia and Rosanna, before connecting to the Eastern freeway at Bulleen.
Mr Andrews said the road will take up to 10 years to build.
Unlike the doomed East West Link which Labor paid $1.2 billion to axe after coming to power, the contracts will not be signed before the November 2018 election.
Shadow Treasurer Michael O'Brien said the project was originally meant to cost $7 billion when Labor floated it six months ago.
"You couldn't burn money this fast. This is the biggest series of cost blowouts in Victorian history, and all before a single shovel is in the ground," Mr O'Brien said.
The opposition wants to see the North East Link built, but plans to revive the East West Link first, which it says is necessary to make sure the Eastern freeway doesn't turn into a "car park" once thousands of extra trucks and cars are using it every day.
Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher said Victoria had rejected an offer to work together planning the North East Link.
"We've seen no details beyond what's in the public domain and there's been no engagement in any formal sense," Mr Fletcher told ABC radio.
"Our view continues to be that the first priority is East West Link."
