Board of Works (MMBW), but the project and its construction was transferred to be under the direct responsibility of the Country Roads Board on 1 July 1974; the section was opened in 1977. The central reservation was designed to be wide enough to cater for a proposed Doncaster railway line between Hoddle Street and Bulleen Road, bridges over it deliberately kept free of support pylons to allow for it. The bridges were designed by Melbourne engineer Bruce Day, with particular attention paid to the aesthetics of each bridge so that they fitted in their landscape, were related to one another, and also provided a variety and progression of design themes. Land was also reserved from Bulleen Road to Doncaster East to extend the proposed railway line, but the plan fell out of favour in the 1980s and the land was sold. The freeway was extended further south-east through Balwyn North from Bulleen Road to Doncaster Road and opened in 1982, with a major part being the undergrounding of 2.4 km of Koonung Creek in a precast reinforced concrete conduit to allow more room for the freeway. The freeway was extended for the last time to Donvale in December 1997. The Eastern Freeway was signed as Freeway Route 83 between Alexandra Parade and Bulleen Road upon opening in 1977, then extended eastward to Doncaster Road when that section of freeway was opened in 1982; this was replaced by State Route 83 in 1989, itself extended eastward to Donvale when that section of freeway was opened in 1997. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, it was replaced by route M3 when EastLink opened in 2008. The passing of the Road Management Act 2004 granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to VicRoads: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared Eastern Freeway (Freeway #1830) from Gold Street in Collingwood to Springvale Road in Donvale. Timeline of construction 1977 – Initial stage, 9 km from Alexandra Parade to Bulleen Road, opened December 1977 in three stages: Hoddle Street to Chandler Highway; Chandler Highway to Burke Road; Burke Road to Bulleen Road; total cost (including associated works in Hoddle Street) of A$84 million. 1982 – Second stage, extended 3km from Bulleen Road to Doncaster Road, opened 3 June 1982, by Minister for Transport, the Hon S M Crabb MP. Two lanes in each direction, plus emergency