West Gate Tunnel to open in December as premier calls for free toll roads this summer

Premier Jacinta Allan says the $10.2 billion West Gate Tunnel will open in December and has asked the state’s toll road owners to make travel free this summer to make up for years of construction pain.

A December opening meets the state Labor government’s previous assurance that Transurban’s new western suburbs mega-highway would be finished by the end of the year, but is still more than three years behind the project’s original schedule after being plagued with delays and legal disputes.

Visiting the elevated sections of the tollway above Footscray Road on Thursday morning, Allan said the project was nearly completed.

“There’s the modern technology that’s being fitted out in the tunnel – the new traffic management systems connecting into the new control centre – all need to be finalised and tested thoroughly. That work will happen across coming weeks,” she said.

“It’s our expectation that the West Gate Tunnel will be welcoming motorists in December after the opening of the Metro Tunnel.”

The project’s first section – an extension of Wurundjeri Way in Docklands – will open on October 27.

Allan had earlier posted a letter on X, addressed to toll companies Transurban and EastLink owner ConnectEast, encouraging them to make toll roads free over the summer holidays. It followed her announcement that weekend public transport would be free when the Metro Tunnel opened in early December, until February 1, 2026.

A spokesperson for Transurban, which also operates CityLink, said the company is working with the government on initiatives to thank drivers using the West Gate Tunnel, including offering free weekend travel on the tunnel in January.

Allan said Transurban’s move would be a welcome gesture for motorists after enduring almost seven years of construction disruptions.

Motorists will pay $4.09 per trip to drive a car through the West Gate Tunnel and $6.54 for a ute or van. Tolls will increase on January 1.

Transurban is paying for $6.1 billion of the West Gate Tunnel’s construction costs in exchange for operating tolls on the new road and a 10-year extension to its CityLink contract, which will deliver billions in additional toll revenue until 2045.

EastLink said it would continue a 20 per cent discount on all car tolls during weekends and public holidays, and the policy will remain in effect throughout the summer and beyond.

Confirmation of the December opening comes a day after CFMEU workers walked off the job at the West Gate Tunnel and other sites across Victoria due to a dispute with a developer in South Australia, according to construction industry sources.

The union cited safety concerns as the reason for the stoppage.

Allan said on Thursday that CFMEU members were back on the job and that the temporary stop-work would not delay the project’s opening. The premier would not comment on whether the purported “safety issue” claimed by the union was genuine or part of a dispute with builder John Holland.

The West Gate Tunnel – which consists of 6.8 kilometres of tunnels and 9.2 kilometres of elevated roads and flyovers – will provide an alternative river crossing to the West Gate Bridge and remove trucks from local streets in the inner west, with a truck ban to be put in place on nearby streets.

However, residents along Williamstown Road, which cuts through Yarraville, Kingsville and Seddon, are alarmed at projections that heavy vehicle numbers will double to 4700 a day outside their homes by 2031 because of the project.

Roads Minister Melissa Horne said on Thursday that she had ordered “urgent advice” and traffic modelling on a potential nighttime truck curfew on Williamstown Road.

“We do need to preserve that sort of north-south route to access the port. But what we can do to alleviate the concerns of the residents, we’re certainly looking at,” Horne said.

Transurban successfully pitched the West Gate Tunnel to the Andrews government in 2014. Major construction began in early 2018 and was meant to be completed by September 2022.

But the project was plagued by the discovery of toxic soil and a legal stand-off between the state government, Transurban and the project’s builders, contributing to delays and a $3.4 billion budget blowout.

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