We're building new connections between the West Gate Tunnel and the city, via an elevated roadway.
From the elevated road, there will be new city connections to CityLink, the northern suburbs and the city offering choice and flexibility in route choices.
What we're building
The section will deliver:
- new connections between the elevated roadway and CityLink, Dynon Road and the existing Footscray Road
- widening of Wurundjeri Way by one lane in each direction between Dudley Street and Flinders Street
- an extension of Wurundjeri Way to the west, connecting into Dynon Road to the east of Moonee Ponds Creek, providing a bypass of the CBD.
The West Gate Tunnel Project will create an alternative to the West Gate Bridge, giving people coming from the West another way to get to workplaces, hospitals and universities in the north of the CBD, easing congestion across the wider network and reducing travel times.
Currently, there are not many options for getting from Melbourne's west to the city and beyond. Besides the West Gate Bridge, which is at capacity, for people coming from the west, like Kanan, this can prove difficult.
"I normally go to city four to five times a week for work and for shopping and most of my friends reside in cities, so I often go to meet them. So usually I go to the city via boundary road and would take the West Gate freeway. To be honest, the commute from the west to city is not that favorable. Most of the times we stuck in traffic in the West Gate Bridge, so the traffic gets stagnant and it takes so much time to move in. Also, there are more of distribution centres in the west of the Melbourne and there are so many trucks during the commute and it takes more time for the traffic to get clear."
The West Gate Tunnel, starting just before Williamstown Road, is the vital alternative to the West Gate Bridge and will save 20 minutes of the journey to the CBD. Michael oversees the project's city connections and tells us where they go.
"The elevated road on Footscray Road is really important because it allows the freeway to continue from the tunnel, which is located on the Yarraville side of the Maribyrnong River, to rise up and provides a freeway connection to the doorstep of the city."
"So there's three key connections into the city. You can either go to Dynon Road or Spencer Street on the north end, a connection to a new extension of Wurundjeri Way and that'll take you all the way to Flinders Street past Marvel Stadium or you'll be able to exit at Footscray Road. "
"Generally speaking, there's three lanes in each direction on the elevated road, depending on different turnoff options to the port and the city. At ground level, Footscray Road will continue to be used as an arterial road, so the western suburbs. The good news is once the new tunnel and elevated structure is built, there'll be far less trucks using Footscray Road."
The elevated road will also provide a new connection to CityLink. Thineesha is a traffic engineer on the projects and gives his insight.
"The new city connections that we're building will allow motorists coming out of the tunnel in the citybound direction and travelling over the elevated roadway to connect directly to CityLink via a new ramp. This will allow a more direct route for motorists from the west who wish to travel north."
"These motorists would have otherwise had to travel all the way down Westgate Freeway and West Gate Bridge. Therefore, this significantly reduces travel times and travel distance and this will benefit both the general public travelling for daily work purposes as well as freight and other industry. The project includes extensions to Dynon Road and Wurundjeri Way, linking up important missing connections. The Wurundjeri Way extension will be a roadway which connects the western end of Wurundjeri Way at Dudley Street to Dynon Road just west of Moonee Ponds Creek. This roadway will cut through sections of the Melbourne Rail Yard area to provide a more direct route for citybound traffic on Dynon Road and vice versa.
"The Wurundjeri Way extension and Wurundjeri Way will also provide a city bypass for traffic heading to the southern CBD areas. This will provide opportunities for parallel routes such as Spencer Street and King Street to be repurposed for walking, cycling, public transport and other place making purposes. With the added incentive of being a toll free road, the Wurundjeri Way extension is expected to be a frequently used alternative for motorists who wish to bypass the city."
Kanan: "I feel the tunnel will make the life of the people easy residing in the west of the Melbourne because traffic will be spread across and the commute will be a little bit easy. So I feel happy and excited about the new tunnel and I guess I can wake up a little bit late in the morning because my travel has been reduced a little bit because of the new tunnels."
Drivers from Melbourne’s west and regional Victoria will enjoy more options and route choices.
Once the project is completed, drivers will have more choices and a faster trip when travelling from the west, Ballarat and Geelong, to the city and northern suburbs.
Heading into the city via the new elevated road, drivers can get to:
- Tullamarine Airport via the new CityLink entry ramp
- Hospitals and universities in Melbourne’s northern suburbs via the new exit ramp to Dynon Road.
- Marvel Stadium and Flinders Street directly via the new Wurundjeri Way Extension over Dudley Street.
- Industry at Appleton Dock Road using the new exit ramp to Footscray Rd – offering direct connections to Australia’s busiest container port.
To access the city, regional drivers will be able to choose between using:
- the twin tunnels, second river crossing over the Maribyrnong River, elevated road and city connections, or
- using the West Gate Freeway and West Gate Bridge.
We’re widening Dynon Road and building a new dedicated bridge that will ensure a safe path for both pedestrians and cyclists separate from vehicles to travel to North Melbourne.
It will make it safer and easier for users to cross Moonee Ponds Creek and the rail lines near North Melbourne station, and for cyclists, to tap into the broader cycling network.
We’re building the new Wurundjeri Way extension which will be elevated over Dudley Street, and connect to Dynon Rd, west of Monee Pond Creek.
The extension will create a new CBD bypass that will remove through traffic from streets in the CBD grid, including Spencer Street and King Street, and will provide greater connectivity between the inner north, Melbourne CBD and the western suburbs.
Find out more on the Wurundjeri Way Extension webpage.