West Gate Tunnel Reaches Key Construction Milestone

26 Jul Blog

Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel project has reached a significant milestone with the completion of the entire road surface on a series of critical connections. The project, aimed at enhancing the city’s infrastructure, saw crews laying the final concrete road surfaces on bridges and elevated roads that will soon connect the West Gate Tunnel to West Melbourne, Docklands, and the city centre.

This advancement marks a crucial step towards easing traffic congestion and improving freight transport in Melbourne. The tunnel will offer direct road access to the Port of Melbourne at Mackenzie Road and Appleton Dock Road, significantly boosting the efficiency of the city’s freight industry. According to Minister for Transport Danny Pearson, the project is expected to remove 9000 trucks from local roads daily by the end of 2025.

Premier Jacinta Allan and Minister Pearson celebrated the milestone by joining project workers for the first car ride to the project’s highest point – a 27-metre-high ramp connecting CityLink to the new elevated road above Footscray Road. The West Gate Tunnel project, initially projected to cost $500 million but later revised to $5.5 billion, commenced major construction in 2018 and is on track for completion in November 2025. Allan emphasised the project’s importance in creating new city connections and reducing travel times between Melbourne’s west and the CBD.