The East West Link, a major tollway proposed to run underneath congested inner Melbourne, has been revised by the State Opposition to prevent distressing home acquisitions and construction disruption.

The Liberal-National Coalition wants to build the East West Link tollway if elected in November, but Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the entrance would be moved away from the suburbs of Collingwood and Clifton Hill.

Mr Guy detailed to the ABC a plan to build the entrance to the tunnel on the median strip of the Eastern Freeway, east of the railway line, rather than on Alexandra Parade as originally planned.

The original East West plan created by former Liberal premier Denis Napthine resulted in dozens of homes being compulsorily acquired in Collingwood and Clifton Hill, prompting politically damaging protests.

Labor dumped the East West Link project after winning government in 2014, and instead favours building the North East Link tollway to the Metropolitan ring Road and Eastern Freeway.

Mr Guy is promising to build it but will examine two different routes if the Coalition wins the November state poll.

"A long tunnel and an earlier start may be a better option for Melbourne," Mr Guy said.

"A better social outcome, a better political outcome, probably a quicker outcome, there could be many ways forward that is actually an improved design."

Mr Guy said a longer tunnel would be more expensive but was a better option for Melbourne. ( AAP: Joe Castro )

Mr Guy conceded the protests and home acquisitions when he was in government were a political problem.

"I think obviously when there's a large number of compulsory acquisitions it's always going to be much more difficult to get people to accept the project,'' he said.

Mr Guy said an earlier entrance on the median strip, and using some existing freeway lanes, could cost $200 million.

Mr Guy said he preferred a second longer "southern corridor" route from the Clifton Hill, tunnelling south-west to emerge in West Melbourne, where Transurban's West Gate Tunnel will emerge.

"I think a longer tunnel, while it is more expensive, it does avoid the construction disruption and construction cost of a cut and cover,'' he said.

The original plan led to the acquisition of dozens of homes around Clifton Hill and Collingwood. ( Supplied: Linking Melbourne Authority )

The southern route would also avoid political and social issues at Royal Park.

But Mr Guy's preferred site is very close to where the Merri Creek meets the Yarra River at Dights Falls. He said any environmental issues would be managed.

Mr Guy, who is also the member for Bulleen, said while the portal will take up the median strip of the Eastern, a Doncaster rail link was still an option in the future.

Acting Premier James Merlino highlighted that voters will not know the cost or the route of the project.

"As it stands today his proposal is to delay the North East Link, and with his dud pet project East West he is now confused," he said.

"He cannot go to the election saying the people of Victoria where it is going to be, how much it is going to cost."

Mr Fitzgerald said he lived through three years of hell before the original proposal was dumped. ( ABC News: Darryl Torpy )

Three years of hell

Keith Fitzgerald has just celebrated his 75th birthday — for 72 of those years he has lived in Bendigo St, in Collingwood.

His life became a living hell when his home was compulsorily acquired to build the East West Link.

The politics of the East West Link Both sides see the East West issue as a political winner. For Mr Guy, not only does it provide a point of difference on infrastructure and commits to a road that most infrastructure bodies have conceded will one day be built, but it is a reminder that his political opponent spent more than $1 billion to tear up the contracts. On the other side Labor is happy to campaign on infrastructure. It is an area that it has a strong track record on with level crossing removals popular among voters and it has started building Melbourne Metro and the West Gate Tunnel. And as frequently said by the Premier, the track record of the Napthine government on major infrastructure was poor. Analysis by state political reporter Richard Willingham

Under the original plan his home on Bendigo St would have been demolished to accommodate a giant flyover connecting outbound traffic on Hoddle Street to the Eastern Freeway.

When Mr Andrews won the election and controversially dumped the project, Mr Fitzgerald was able to get his home back— but not after a battle on the street with squatters.

Three years ago he nearly had a breakdown.

"We went through quite a hard time here,'' Mr Fitzgerald said.

"We've been through three years of hell.

"I don't want to go through it again, I really don't, I've had a gutful."

With the road back on the agenda, the worry and uncertainty are back.

"A lot of people down here are a little bit anxious about what is going on,'' he said.

While the plan to move the entrance east of the original sight has allayed some of Mr Fitzgerald's fears, he's still concerned about the environmental impacts of the road link.