West Gate Freeway

West Gate Freeway
Basic data
Operator:	VicRoads
Start of the street:	Princes Freeway Western Ring Road Altona North ( Melbourne ) ( VIC ) ( 37 ° 50 ′ S , 144 ° 49 ′ E ); ; ;
End of street:	CityLink; South Melbourne ( Melbourne ) ( VIC ); ( 37 ° 50 ′ S , 144 ° 58 ′ E )
Overall length:	14 km
States :	Victoria
	West Gate Freeway into town before junction with Williamstown Road

Junction of the entrances and exits of the Burnley Tunnel, Domain Tunnel, West Gate Freeway, Power Street and Kings Way

Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The West Gate Freeway (formerly: Lower Yarra Freeway ) is an urban freeway in Melbourne in the south of the Australian state of Victoria . It connects the CityLink in South Melbourne with the western part of the Princes Freeway and the Western Ring Road in Altona North . This makes it an important link between downtown Melbourne and Geelong .

The most spectacular and famous part of the West Gate Freeway is the West Gate Bridge over the lower reaches of the Yarra River .

history

The freeway was originally mentioned as Freeway Corridor F9 in the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan . It was built in the late 1960s and opened to traffic in 1971. It then stretched from Melbourne Road and Williamstown Road in Spotswood immediately west of the mouth of the Yarra River to the junction with Princes Highway and Little Boundary Road in Altona North and was numbered F82. At that time, the Yarra River could only be crossed by ferry, which of course was frequented much more frequently after the Lower Yarra Freeway was completed.

The construction of the West Gate Bridge began shortly before the opening of this freeway and was able to go into operation despite the delay due to the partial collapse in 1978. Thus, the freeway was extended to the southwest corner of downtown Melbourne. At that time the name was changed to 'West Gate Freeway' to commemorate its complete opening. From November 16, 1978 to November 29, 1985, a toll was due to use the West Gate Bridge. The toll stations were on the city side of the bridge, where the service stations are today. The National Highway 1 , formerly on the Geelong Road (Princes Highway West) and the Smithfield Road , the Flemington Road and King Street ran through the city, was passed on to the freeway and reached the Kings Way on Rogers Street , the Lorimer Street and Clarendon Street .

Because of the additional traffic that the West Gate Freeway attracted and also to increase road safety, the freeway was finally extended in 1987 to Kings Way above the junction with Grant Street in an elevated position . The widening of the originally four-lane freeway to six lanes west of the bridge was carried out in 1993; In 2000 it was widened to eight lanes. With the completion of the Western Ring Road , which connects directly to the highway at the west end, and the CityLink in the east, which connects the highway with the Monash Freeway , it also serves as a southern bypass of downtown Melbourne.

The entire freeway has been designated as M1 and as tourist route T2 (between the junction with Melbourne Road and Williamstown Road in Spotswood and Montague Street in Port Melbourne).

Expansion in 2008

The volume of traffic on the West Gate Freeway has increased steadily, with 180,000 vehicles passing through the freeway every day. Traffic jams are common at the intersections with Montague Street and Bolte Bridge . On May 1, 2008, the Minister of Transport Tim Pallas announced details of the expansion:

Construction of an elevated driveway from Kings Way out of town to the freeway.
New driveways on Montague Street.
An additional road connecting the Bolte Bridge to the freeway.
Widening of the freeway between Todd Road and Montague Street
Construction of the intersection with Montague Street

The work was completed at the end of 2010. The expansion of the freeway received the Australian Construction Achievement Award in 2011 .

course

State of development

The West Gate Freeway begins at the West Gate Junction in Altona North as an eight-lane freeway. It is seamlessly connected to the Western Ring Road (M80) and the western part of the Princes Freeway (M1), but also provides access to the Princes Highway (Geelong Road) (S83).

Soon after crossing the Yarra River, the highway changes to high altitude, which it maintains until its end. There are entrances and exits to and from Melbourne city center. Further east, after the Power Street exit , the highway leads into the Burnley Tunnel of the CityLink, which is equipped with electronic toll control .

Important junctions and junctions

West Gate Freeway
Connections to the west	Exit no.	Connections to the east
At the end of West Gate Freeway, continue as Princes Freeway West to Geelong	W10	Start of West Gate Freeway from Princes Freeway West
Ballarat , Adelaide , Sydney Western Ring Road	W10
Altona , Brooklyn Grieve Parade	W8	no exit
Altona , Sunshine Millers Road	W7	Sunshine, Altona Millers Road
NEWPORT-SUNSHINE FREIGHT RAIL LINE	-	NEWPORT-SUNSHINE FREIGHT RAIL LINE
further than	W6	Footscray, Williamstown Williamstown Road Melbourne Road
Williamstown , Footscray Melbourne Road Williamstown Road	W6	along with
RAILWAY LINE TO WERRIBEE	-	RAILWAY LINE TO WERRIBEE
WEST GATE BRIDGE	-	WEST GATE BRIDGE
Port Melbourne Todd Road	W5	Port Melbourne Todd Road
COLES EXPRESS WEST GATE SOUTH SERVICE CENTER	-	COLES EXPRESS WEST GATE NORTH SERVICE CENTER
Bendigo , Sydney CityLink	W4	Bendigo , Sydney CityLink
along with	W3	Docklands, South Melbourne Montague Street
South Melbourne, Docklands Montague Street No access from Kings Way (Princes Highway)	W3	further than
St. Kilda , downtown Melbourne Kings Way ( Princes Highway )	W2	St. Kilda ; to Frankston Kings Way ( Princes Highway )
Southbank, downtown Melbourne Power Street	W1	Southbank, downtown Melbourne Power Street
Start of West Gate Freeway further from CityLink (Domain Tunnel)	-	At the end of West Gate Freeway continue as CityLink (Burnley Tunnel) to Dandenong / Traralgon

Map of the freeway

Web links

source

Steve Parish: Australian Touring Atlas . Steve Parish Publishing. Archerfield QLD 2007. ISBN 978-1-74193-232-4 . P. 41

Individual evidence

^ M1 West Gate Freeway . mrv.ozroads.com.au. Retrieved May 13, 2008.

^ Miscellaneous: 1977. West Gate Bridge Toll Plaza . www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au. Retrieved May 13, 2008.

↑ Media Release from the Minister for Roads and Ports: M1 UPGRADE STARTS TO TAKE SHAPE . www.mcwupgrade.com.au. May 1, 2008. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008. Retrieved on May 13, 2008.

↑ Plan for the expansion of the West Gate Freeway in 2008 ( memento of the original from July 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ 2011 Winner , Australian Construction Achievement Award. Archived from the original on September 21, 2011 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 9, 2011. @1@ 2

[1] M1 West Gate Freeway . mrv.ozroads.com.au. Retrieved May 13, 2008.

[2] Miscellaneous: 1977. West Gate Bridge Toll Plaza . www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au. Retrieved May 13, 2008.

[3] Media Release from the Minister for Roads and Ports: M1 UPGRADE STARTS TO TAKE SHAPE . www.mcwupgrade.com.au. May 1, 2008. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008. Retrieved on May 13, 2008.