West Gate Tunnel to welcome (and charge) thousands of drivers on Sunday morning
Joining a procession of vintage cars on her first ride through the West Gate Tunnel on Saturday morning, self-described steampunk fairy godmother and children’s book author Louise Karch called it “magic, magic, magic.”
“I want to be here because this is where magic meets industry,” he said.
“How could I not be here, this is such an important moment in history.”
Starting at midnight, the long-awaited West Gate Tunnel will gradually open, with all traffic flowing by 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, but a month of free travel on weekends won’t start until January.
Speaking at Transurban’s high-tech Footscray control centre, Roads and Road Safety Minister Michelle Horne said she expected complexities and challenges to arise as motorists navigate Victoria’s largest new road configuration.
“We have a record number of incident response vehicles ready to stand by in the event of a failure in the tunnel or the new road network so that we can release the network and enable it to move more simply and freely,” he said.
The $10.2 billion project provides an alternative river crossing to the West Gate Bridge for an estimated 67,000 vehicles a day and is intended to remove 9000 trucks from local roads in the inner west suburbs, improving commute times for Melbourne’s outer west motorists by around 20 minutes – if they’re willing to pay a toll to use the tunnel.
“There will be visible changes in the way people use this road network, not only in terms of better traffic flow, but also of course new junctions.”
Intercity teams will keep a close eye on these vehicles at the Footscray control centre, where a 72 square meter video wall is fed by around 900 cameras, including more than 400 high-tech cameras that automatically detect events such as malfunctions.
Travel will be free on weekends in January as a thank you to drivers and residents who have endured years of construction chaos.
Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams said the lack of clarity on exactly when the tunnel would open made January “a safer bet to make the weekend free toll proposal”.
He also downplayed concerns about inner west residents breathing in unsafe levels of truck pollution from ventilation shafts at the West Gate Tunnel Project.
An engineering report prepared by the Maribyrnong Truck Action group has called on the Environmental Protection Authority to investigate concerns that the design of the tunnel’s twin ventilation shafts will not prevent harmful fumes from reaching homes.
However, Williams said that the EPA has received approval for these ventilation shafts and that they are working as intended, but that they will continue to monitor them closely.
He said the government was investing in improving air quality overall by planting half a million trees in the inner west, sealing local roads and increasing the use of electric vehicles.
A truck ban on heavy vehicles will come into force on six local roads in the inner west when the tunnel opens on Sunday, but there will be an initial focus on education before moving on to a $680 penalty from the heavy vehicle regulator.
This will include a weekend and night curfew on Williamstown Road to prevent lorries idling on suburban streets, resulting in a “major improvement in air quality in the inner west”.
“If we are seeing repeat offenses, then we can introduce the sentencing regime,” Williams said.
Transurban Group enforcement officer Dave Clements said it was critical for drivers to remain in their vehicles in the event of a breakdown.
“We have incident response teams on standby to respond and respond to any incident and they will be there within minutes. So stay safe and stay in your vehicle,” he said.
Opposition on Saturday was reminiscent of the project’s massive cost overruns. Opposition transport spokesman Evan Mulholland said Prime Minister Jacinta Allan did not deserve “a pat on the back for a project that is $6bn over budget and three years late”.
“It was originally promised in 2020 and would not cost taxpayers a penny,” he said.[Now] “This cost taxpayers $4.7 billion.”
Mulholland said the $4.7 billion taxpayers paid for the tunnel project could instead pay for “Victoria Police’s staff for a year, plus more than 2,000 teachers.”
“$4.7 billion could build three major hospitals in this state,” he added.
Mulholland said that if the Coalition came to power, it would review the safety reports of ventilation shafts and that the government was ignoring local people’s concerns.
“As with all projects, community consultation goes out the window,” he said.
Linkt, which facilitates the payment of tolls, will also be closed until 18:00 on Sunday night as part of a software update directly linked to the tunnel’s opening. However, it will continue to collect data and, once operational, will have the ability to pay tolls and re-query.
West Gate Tunnel tolls are separate from CityLink tolls; This means a motorist will pay $10.63 to go through the tunnel and continue onto the Tullamarine Highway to Melbourne Airport.
A surcharge of $6.54 for cars and $10.47 for vans and vans will apply to use the Footscray Road, Wurundjeri Road and Dynon Road exits between 7am and 9am on weekdays.
Nicole Precel is an education reporter for The Age. He was previously an audio video producer. He is also a documentary producer. Contact Nicole.precel@theage.com.auConnect with: excitement, Facebook or email.
