West Gate Freeway
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| West Gate Freeway | |
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| Length | 13.5 kilometres |
| General direction: | West-East |
| From: | Altona North, Melbourne |
| To: | South Melbourne, Melbourne |
| Suburbs along freeway: | Spotswood, Port Melbourne |
West Gate Freeway (formerly the Lower Yarra Freeway) is a freeway in Melbourne, Australia, linking Geelong to Melbourne CBD and beyond. It is also a link between Melbourne and the west and linking industrial and residential areas west of the Yarra River with the city and port areas. The iconic West Gate Bridge is a part of the freeway.
[edit] 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.
The entire freeway has been given an M1 designation. It gains the Tourist 2 shield at the Melbourne/Williamstown Road interchange in Spotswood, and loses it at the Montague Street interchange in Port Melbourne.
[edit] Interchanges
The West Gate Freeway officially begins at the Westgate Interchange in Altona North. The freeway flows from the Western Ring Road 
and the Princes Freeway 
with access to the Princes Highway (Geelong Road) 
also provided with city bound exit and Geelong bound entry ramps.
The interchanges along the freeway include:
- Grieve Parade
: Altona North. city-bound only - Millers Road
: Altona North. bi-directional - Williamstown Road
: Spotswood. bi-directional - CityLink
: Port Melbourne. bi-directional - Montague Street
: Port Melbourne. bi-directional - Kings Way (Princes Highway)
: South Melbourne. out-bound only (limited) - Power Street: South Melbourne. bi-directional (limited)
Further east after the Power/Sturt Street interchange, the freeway changes into the CityLink tollway which consists of the Domain and Burnley tunnels.
