Editing West Gate Freeway (section)

==History==
The [[Country Roads Board]] (later [[VicRoads]]) was authorised by the government in December 1961 for a study to gather engineering and economic data for the provisioning of a toll crossing of the Lower Yarra River, from Salmon Street in [[Port Melbourne, Victoria|Port Melbourne]] to the Princes Highway in the vicinity of [[Kororoit Creek]], a distance of 5.25 miles.<ref name="CRB49AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1286187 |title=Country Roads Board Victoria. Forty-Ninth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1962 |newspaper=Country Roads Board of Victoria |location=Melbourne |date=1 December 1962 |pages=46,48,76 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref> Investigations included details of bores down to 8,000 feet and soil tests (completed on 29 June 1962), selective drilling and sampling in critical areas, and traffic studies, and at the time both a tunnel under and a bridge over the river were mooted.<ref name="CRB49AR" /> In February 1966, the Board was appointed as the design and construction authority for the Lower Yarra Crossing Project; the State government authorised the construction of a tolled bridge over the Yarra with eight lanes.<ref name="CRB54AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1286192 |title=Country Roads Board Victoria. Fifty-Fourth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1967 |newspaper=Country Roads Board of Victoria |location=Melbourne |date=12 January 1968 |page=10 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref>

Construction began on the first section of the '''Lower Yarra Freeway'''<ref name="CRB58AR" /> in the late 1960s and was open to traffic by 1971,<ref name="CRB58AR" /> stretching from the Princes Highway just south of the intersection with Little Boundary Road in [[Laverton North, Victoria|Laverton North]] (later enlarged and named the West Gate Interchange) eastwards to Melbourne/Williamstown Roads just west of the mouth of the Yarra. At the time, the only way to cross the Yarra west of the CBD was via a ferry crossing (the Yarra River punt service), 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, [[West Gate Bridge#Collapse|although delayed]], when finally completed in 1978<ref name="CRB66AR" /> 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) between 16 November 1978 and 17 November 1985.<ref name="RCA86AR" /> The [[toll plaza]] was located on the city side of the bridge where the service stations are now located.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au/site/maribyrnong/miscellaneous/1449.html |title=Miscellaneous:1977. West Gate Bridge Toll Plaza |date=8 September 2003 |publisher=picturevictoria.vic.gov.au |access-date=13 May 2008}}</ref> [[National Route 1 (Australia)|National Route 1]] – previously designated along Geelong Road (Princes Highway West) and through the CBD via Smithfield and Flemington Roads and [[King Street, Melbourne|King Street]] – was altered to use the freeway instead and rejoin Kings Way via Rogers, Lorimer and Clarendon Streets. As a result of the diverted traffic over the West Gate Bridge, the Yarra River punt service closed in 1979.

Due to the extra traffic the West Gate Freeway was attracting—and due to the safety concerns of having excess traffic filter through connector streets in South Melbourne—the freeway was first extended to Johnson Street (today Montague Street) in 1985,<ref name="RCA86AR" /> and then finally to Kings Way above the Grant Street intersection using elevated carriageways; the eastbound carriageway opened in 1987,<ref name="RCA88AR" /> and the westbound carriageway opened nearly a year later in 1988.<ref name="RCA88AR" /> Expansion of the original two lane freeway on the western side of the bridge to three lanes each way was carried out in 1991,<ref name="VR91AR" /> and expansion to four lanes followed in 2000.<ref name="VR00AR" /> With the subsequent completion of the [[Western Ring Road]] joining the West Gate 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.

The Lower Yarra Freeway was signed Freeway Route 82 upon opening in 1971, joined by National Route 1 when the West Gate Bridge opened in 1978, and both were extended onto new sections of the West Gate Freeway as they opened during the 1980s; Freeway Route 82 was eventually removed in 1988. [[Yarra Scenic Drive|Tourist Route 2]] also runs along the freeway from the Melbourne/Williamstown Road interchange in Spotswood and the Montague Street interchange in Port Melbourne. With Victoria's conversion to the newer alphanumeric system in the late 1990s, the freeway's National Route 1 designation began conversion to M1 in late 1996, and was completed in 1997.<ref name="VR97AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1292553 |title=VicRoads Annual Report 1996-97 |newspaper=[[VicRoads]] |location=Melbourne |date=27 August 1997 |pages=13–4, 24 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref>

The passing of the ''Road Management Act 2004''<ref name="roadact">{{cite web |author=State Government of Victoria |title=Road Management Act 2004 |url=https://content.legislation.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-08/04-12aa062%20authorised.pdf |publisher=Government of Victoria |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018233332/https://content.legislation.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-08/04-12aa062%20authorised.pdf |archivedate=18 October 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=19 October 2021 }}</ref> granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to [[VicRoads]]: in 2007, VicRoads re-declared this road as '''West Gate Freeway''' (Freeway #1820), from the [[Princes Freeway]] at [[Laverton North, Victoria|Laverton North]] and ending at the ramps to Kings Way and Power Street in [[Southbank, Victoria|Southbank]].<ref name="vicreg">{{cite web |author=VicRoads |title=VicRoads – Register of Public Roads (Part A) |url=https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/-/media/files/documents/utilities/about-vr/acts-and-regulations/register-of-public-roads---part-a-v-2015.ashx?la=en&hash=116BE6FB86F506FF0B5BAFBEA45FCD6C |format=PDF |publisher=Government of Victoria |pages=972–3 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501042521/https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/-/media/files/documents/utilities/about-vr/acts-and-regulations/register-of-public-roads---part-a-v-2015.ashx?la=en&hash=116BE6FB86F506FF0B5BAFBEA45FCD6C |archivedate=1 May 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=19 October 2021 }}</ref>

The original Lower Yarra Freeway was officially designated in the [[1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan]] as the F9 Freeway corridor. 

===Timeline of construction===
*1971 – Lower Yarra Freeway, initial {{convert|4|mi|km}} opened from Princes Highway to Williamstown Road on 7 April 1971, originally 3 lanes in each direction, at a cost of $14 million.<ref name="CRB58AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1286196 |title=Country Roads Board Victoria. Fifty-Eighth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1971 |newspaper=Country Roads Board of Victoria |location=Melbourne |date=1 November 1971 |page=2 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref>
*1978 – West Gate Bridge, opened 15 November 1978, by the Premier, the Hon. R J Hamer ED, MP; with freeway extension from the bridge to Rogers Street<ref name="CRB66AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1286204 |title=Country Roads Board Victoria. Sixty-Sixth Annual Report: for the year ended 30 June 1979 |newspaper=Country Roads Board of Victoria |location=Melbourne |date=28 September 1979 |page=9 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref>
*1985 – Tolls removed from West Gate Bridge, 17 November 1985<ref name="RCA86AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1286932 |title=Road Construction Authority of Victoria. Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 1986 |newspaper=Road Construction Authority of Victoria |location=Melbourne |date=24 November 1986 |page=19,30 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref>
*1985 – Extended 1.5km from Rogers Street to Johnson Street, opened December 1985<ref name="RCA86AR" />
*1987 – Extended 2.1km from Johnson Street to Kings Way, single carriageway eastbound, opened December 1987<ref name="RCA88AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1286934 |title=Road Construction Authority of Victoria. Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 1988 |newspaper=Road Construction Authority of Victoria |location=Melbourne |date=24 September 1988 |page=27 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref>
*1988 – Extended 2.1km from Johnson Street to Kings Way, single carriageway westbound, opened October 1988; total cost for both carriageways to Kings Way/Power Street $185 million<ref name="RCA88AR" />
*1991 – Widening to three lanes in both directions between Princes Highway and Millers Road.<ref name="VR91AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1292549 |title=VicRoads Annual Report 1990-91 |newspaper=[[VicRoads]] |location=Melbourne |date=9 October 1991 |page=39 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref> (this possibly conflicts with information given in CRB's 58th Annual Report, which states the freeway opened with three lanes in each direction in 1971, whilst omitting that the third lane only existed between Millers Road and Williamstown Road<ref name="CRB58AR" />).
*2000 – Widening to four lanes in both directions between the West Gate Bridge and Laverton.<ref name="VR00AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1292619 |title=VicRoads Annual Report 1999-2000 |newspaper=[[VicRoads]] |location=Melbourne |date=19 October 2000 |page=29 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref>

===2008–11 upgrade===
Traffic volumes on the West Gate Freeway have grown steadily since opening, carrying up to 180,000 vehicles every day. Congestion frequently occurs at the Montague Street and Bolte Bridge interchanges due to conflicting traffic movements on and off the freeway. On 1 May 2008 the Minister for Roads and Ports [[Tim Pallas]] announced design details for the West Gate Freeway improvements, to assist in maintaining rapidly growing volume capacity and to reduce congestion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mcwupgrade.com.au/documents/File/M1%20Final%20Design%20MR.pdf |title=Media Release from the Minister for Roads and Ports: M1 UPGRADE STARTS TO TAKE SHAPE |date=1 May 2008 |publisher=mcwupgrade.com.au |access-date=13 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719225853/http://www.mcwupgrade.com.au/documents/File/M1%20Final%20Design%20MR.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=19 July 2008}}</ref>

They are:
* a full freeway management system, made up of [[Ramp Meter|Ramp Metering (Signalling)]], Lane Use Management Signs (overhead lane availability / variable speed zones), electronic on-road message signs, arterial road message signs, CCTV cameras and a suite of freeway traffic algorithms and software with data stations, thousands of sensors and a core server at the VicRoads TMC. Previously wind warning lights were used to reduce the speed limit during high winds but it could only limit speed to either 40 km/h or 60 km/h.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20240407044110/http://www.hobbiesplus.com.au/signspotters/freeway_signs.htm</ref>
* the addition of a new elevated road structure joining the outbound Kings Way on-ramp to the Freeway
* new traffic ramps over Montague Street
* an additional dedicated exit ramp from the Bolte Bridge to the Freeway
* widening of the freeway between Todd Road and Montague Street
* redesign of the Montague Street interchange.

These works help reduce merging and weaving movements at key points on the freeway, leading to a smoother traffic flow and improved driver safety. As part of the works the Montague Street on-ramp city bound had been closed for approximately 18 months to enable the new one to be built.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mcwupgrade.com.au/news.php?NewsId=21 |title=May 2008 - M1 upgrade starts to take shape |work=Monash - CityLink - West Gate upgrade |publisher=mcwupgrade.com.au |access-date=13 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528105725/http://www.mcwupgrade.com.au/news.php?NewsId=21 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=28 May 2008}}</ref>

Early works on the West Gate Freeway, including geo-technical investigations and service proving, commenced in late 2007. In early 2008 construction works started on the freeway widening, specifically in the South Melbourne area. New traffic lanes and ramps have been completed and opened in different stages with the total project eventually completed and opened to traffic in June 2011.<ref name="VR12AR">{{cite news |url=https://vgls.sdp.sirsidynix.net.au/client/search/asset/1292679 |title=VicRoads Annual Report 2011-12 |newspaper=[[VicRoads]] |location=Melbourne |date=18 September 2012 |page=8 |publisher=Victorian Government Library Service}}</ref> The project was awarded the 2011 Australian Construction Achievement Award.<ref>{{cite news |title=2011 Winner |publisher=Australian Construction Achievement Award |url=http://www.acaa.net.au/2011_winner.html |access-date=9 September 2011}}</ref>