Since opening on 14 December, the new West Gate Tunnel has seen more than a million vehicles travelling through both the inbound Bundawanh and outbound Eureka tunnels.

As Victorians return from summer holidays and start to familiarise themselves with using this major piece of infrastructure as a bypass to congestion in Melbourne’s inner west, traffic volume is expected to grow as traffic increases into the new year.

Fewer trucks using inner west streets

More than 20 per cent of the one million vehicles that have travelled through the West Gate Tunnel have been trucks – reducing the number that travel along local roads in Melbourne’s inner west.

The twin tunnels’ direct underground route for heavy vehicles through to the Port of Melbourne is already showing positive signs of reducing truck traffic on local streets in suburbs including Footscray, Seddon and Yarraville.

Families in the inner west are enjoying quieter and safer streets with trucks and commuter traffic moving under-ground and the implementation of No-Truck Zones – data shows that in the first month of the tunnel’s operation, Williamstown Road saw a more than 95 per cent reduction in heavy vehicle movements during No-Truck Zone hours.

Choose your lane early

As more motorists return to the roads, drivers heading citybound from the west are urged to choose their route early when on the M80 Ring Road or Princes Freeway.

  • Left lanes lead to the tunnel, Docklands, the CBD, northern suburbs and the Millers and Williamstown Road exits.
  • Right express lanes take drivers over the West Gate Bridge toward the south‑east — with no access to the tunnels or freeway exits

For incidents occurring on the West Gate Bridge, drivers can divert through the tunnel, exit at Wurundjeri Way, and rejoin the freeway near CityLink’s Burnley Tunnel via Flinders and Montague streets.

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