The Premier's latest road-building pledge, almost two years out from the next election, signals a major challenge to the opposition to match the commitment while retaining its own promise to bring back the East West Link project.

The opposition has vowed as recently as October to build the East West Link – which Daniel Andrews dumped at a cost of $1.1 billion according to the acting Auditor-General – if they are returned to government.

Both road projects are seen as key election pledges aimed at marginal seats in Melbourne's gridlocked north and east.

The government statement that it would not sign contracts for the project before the 2018 election result is an implicit attack on the former Coalition government's decision to sign contracts for the East West Link ahead of the 2014 election.

The North East Link road would take about 10 years to build, the government said, so would open in the late 2020s, connecting the Metropolitan Ring Road with the Eastern Freeway, a link that transport advocates and industry have been lobbying for for many years.

Planning for the mega-road project will begin with $35 million in funding for a business case, which will investigate the best route for the road.

A decision on the route would be made in 2018, and planning approvals and tender processes would begin that year, the government said.

In making the pledge on Sunday morning, Mr Andrews said "Victorians ought to have a choice".

He said the road had been talked about for "the best part of 50 years" and would "connect all points of the compass".

At least 5000 jobs would be created in building the project, Mr Andrews said.

He compared the size and scale of the proposed link to the Melbourne Metro Rail tunnel, which is in the planning stage and due to open in 2026.

Mr Andrews confirmed the link would be tolled. The state government will also make a financial contribution but will await the completion of the business case before committing funding.

The project would proceed without funding from the federal government, but Mr Andrews said he would welcome a Commonwealth contribution. "We're not waiting," he said.

While Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has not explicitly promised to build a North East Link, the project does have Coalition support at state and federal levels.

He has previously described the link as "utterly overdue".

On Sunday, opposition roads spokesman Ryan Smith criticised Labor's announcement for lacking detail.

Mr Smith said it was "a little early" for the opposition to commit to the project.

"We would have to work out funding arrangements, something Daniel Andrews hasn't done," he said.

A spokesman for Paul Fletcher, the Turnbull government's Minister for Urban Infrastructure, said the North East Link had been "widely recognised as an important project for Melbourne".

The Turnbull government last month committed $15 million in planning money for the road.

"We look forward to working with the Andrews government in Victoria to get that money to work, now that it has announced that it intends to proceed with business case development, consultation and route selection," the spokesman said.

RACV public policy general manager Brian Negus said transport and business groups strongly supported the link.

He said a recent survey showed that six of the 10 worst congestion spots were clustered on the Eastern Freeway. Mr Negus said the project would relieve congestion at five of those spots.

More work needed to be done to determine the project's alignment, he said.

The transport industry applauded the move, saying the link would ease pressure on the West Gate and Monash freeways.

"There is such a large population in the east of Melbourne and so much commercial activity in the west," Peter Anderson, the chief executive of the Victorian Transport Association, said.

Tony Morton, president of the Public Transport Users Association, said that in trying to build its way out of congestion, the government was set to repeat the mistakes that created Melbourne's traffic problems in the first place.

"We know we have a traffic problem all around Melbourne and the answer is that you don't make it worse, which we know by now that building more roads does, what you do is you boost the alternatives," Dr Morton said.

He said the government appeared to believe the North East Link would defer the need to build a rail line to Melbourne Airport.

"They claim it's going to be so much easier to drive to the airport from the eastern suburbs, I think that might be true for about two weeks after it opens," he said.