Victoria Road Photo Gallery:
M1 (Westgate Freeway)

The Westgate Freeway is one of Melbourne's main aterials and connects several suburbs and also motorways, traveling east to west.

The freeway includes the Westgate Bridge over the Yarra River (53 metres high) and works as a by-pass of the Princes Highway.

The Westgate Freeway terminates at its western end at the Princes Freeway (M1) and Western Ring Road (M80), at its eastern end it terminates and connects with the City Link Tunnel (M1) under the Yarra River and also Kings Way (ALT NR 1 / NR 79).

History

The freeway was originally constructed in the late 1960s and was open for traffic by 1971, stretching from the intersection of the Princes Highway and Little Boundary Road in Altona North (later enlarged and named the Westgate Interchange) eastwards to Melbourne/Williamstown Roads just west of the mouth of the Yarra, initially designated with a F-82 shield. At the time, the only way to cross the Yarra west of the CBD was via a ferry crossing, which naturally saw far heavier demands once the Lower Yarra Freeway was officially opened. The West Gate Bridge across the Yarra had started construction not too long before the opening of the freeway, and although delayed, when finally completed in 1978 allowed the freeway to extend over the river and directly into the CBD's south-western corner (via Rogers and Lorimer Streets). The freeway's name was changed to the West Gate Freeway to commemorate its opening, but the freeway also attracted tolls from anyone using the bridge (between Melbourne/Williamstown Road and Rogers Street); these were later abolished in the mid-1980s. National Route 1 - previously designated along Geelong Road (Princes Highway West) and through the CBD via Smithfield and Flemington Roads and King Street - was altered to use the freeway instead and rejoin Kings Way via Rogers, Lorimer and Claredon Streets.

Due to how much extra traffic the West Gate Freeway was attracting, and also due to safety concerns having most of it filtered through connector streets in South Melbourne, the freeway was finally extended to Kings Way above the Grant Street intersection using elevated carriageways in 1987.

With the subsequent completion of the Western Ring Road joining the Westgate Interchange to the freeway's west and CityLink to the freeway's east, it also funnels traffic from northern and western suburbs around Melbourne, acting as a bypass freeway.

Length:	13 km
Route Numbers:	Formerly