Cost Blowout, Delays Occur When Government Rushes Transport Project: Transport Expert

A general view of commuters and heavy transport vehicles traveling on the M1 freeway in and out of the city on August 06, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

The cost for Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel project is expected to spiral out of control, and a transport expert attributed part of the problems to the Labor government’s rushing the project.

The West Gate Tunnel project is a four-kilometre toll road under construction that will upgrade the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville and link to CityLink at Docklands via a tunnel beneath Yarraville. It aims to relieve M1 congestion, give people more travel options and get trucks off local streets in the inner west.