Skip to main content

Victorian Government to fund second river crossing

The Victorian Government in Australia is to provide the full funding for the Western Distributor Project, a second river crossing which includes the Monash Freeway Upgrade and upgrades to Webb Dock, after the Federal Government rejected a request for a contribution to the funding. Construction of the US$4.2 billion (AU$5.5 billion) Western Distributor will start in 2017, local motorists paying for the rest of it with tolls extended until 2045. The Government and Transurban in Australia have now signed
April 18, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The Victorian Government in Australia is to provide the full funding for the Western Distributor Project, a second river crossing which includes the Monash Freeway Upgrade and upgrades to Webb Dock, after the Federal Government rejected a request for a contribution to the funding.

Construction of the US$4.2 billion (AU$5.5 billion) Western Distributor will start in 2017, local motorists paying for the rest of it with tolls extended until 2045.

The Government and Transurban in Australia have now signed an agreement on processes for the tender, planning and engagement stages and announced the establishment of the Western Distributor Authority to get the project completed.

They have also released the first full designs which include two options for connecting the West Gate Freeway to the Western Distributor Tunnel, either directly within the road reserve, or via ramps to a portal in adjacent land.

Key features include: a tunnel under Yarraville and a second river crossing over the Maribyrnong; the longest managed motorway system in Australia from Geelong to Pakenham; 4.5km of new cycling and pedestrian paths including completion of the Federation Trail; Widening the Monash Freeway in two places.

To get dangerous goods trucks, which can’t travel in a tunnel, out of residential streets, the designs include five ramp options to connect the West Gate Freeway directly to Hyde Street.

Related Content

  • April 30, 2015
    The UK’s busiest crossing adopts free flow charging
    Colin Sowman looks at the transition to free-flow charging on the Dartford Crossing, a notorious congestion blackspot on the UK motorway network. The Dartford Crossing, where London’s orbital M25 motorway crosses the lower reaches of the River Thames 32km (20 miles) to the east of Central London, has long been a major source of congestion. Now, to alleviate the congestion caused by some 50 million crossings per year, the Highways Agency has adopted a free-flow charging system - but the Crossing’s location a
  • March 30, 2021
    SRL’s temporary permanent traffic solution
    The lengthy reconfiguration of a London accident hotspot to make it safer risked creating its own safety problems. SRL’s John Cleary tells Adam Hill how his firm has been protecting VRUs
  • January 31, 2012
    Australian road pricing, road funding needs more debate
    Everyone in the road transport industry in Australia is talking road pricing - everyone, that is, except the politicians. Christine Keyes reports. At the end of 2008, Australia's road transport industry was wringing its collective hands, unable to raise more than $100 million from an individual bank for any Public Private Partnership (PPP). The A$750 million Peninsula Link project, announced by the Victoria Government in March 2009, was the first road project in the country to be put out to market as an ava
  • September 15, 2016
    Øresund bridges the front line for border crossing traffic
    Timothy Compston considers the challenges faced by the operators of the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, the largest structure of its kind across Europe. In light of the concerns about the ongoing security threat and the unprecedented flow of migrants, many of the countries that make up the Schengen Area in Europe have re-introduced border controls. For its part, Sweden has rolled out ID checks for train, bus and ferry passengers from Denmark placing the landmark Øresund Bridge very much on the fr