Tens of thousands of Victorians have had a rare chance to step inside one of the state’s biggest infrastructure projects before it opens to traffic next month. The West Gate Tunnel, a $10.2 billion road link between Yarraville and the city, was opened for a single day to runners and walkers keen to experience the new route beneath Melbourne.
From early morning, more than 50,000 people took part in the West Gate Tunnel Discovery Day—a community event that turned an engineering site into a festival. Runners began their eight-kilometre course at 7 am, taking in sweeping city views from the new skyroad above Footscray Road before descending into the twin tunnels. Families gathered at Yarraville Gardens, where live music, children’s activities and food stalls made the event feel less like a construction milestone and more like a street celebration.
Walkers followed a shorter 2.5-kilometre path through the tunnel, passing new wetlands and the striking 38-metre-high timber net structure built above its entrance. The event raised more than $175,000 for two community organisations in Melbourne’s west—Community Bike Hub, which teaches bike safety and repair skills, and West Welcome Wagon, which supports asylum seekers and refugees.
Minister for Transport Infrastructure Gabrielle Williams joined the crowd, describing it as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore the West Gate Tunnel on foot before it starts helping families get to work and back home sooner.”
Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne said the project would ease the pressure on the West Gate Bridge, which remains one of Melbourne’s busiest routes. “The West Gate Tunnel will deliver safer and more dependable journeys from the west to the city—especially for the freight operators who keep Victoria moving, and for locals who deserve less congestion on their streets.”
The Member for Footscray Katie Hall called the development “a major win for our community—taking 9,000 trucks a day off local roads and creating safer, quieter neighbourhoods right across the inner west.”
The project team, delivering the tunnel on behalf of the Victorian Government and Transurban, said that since the tunnelling phase concluded in May 2023, work has turned to fitting lighting, cabling and architectural finishes. By November 2023 they reported completion of seven kilometres of road deck and entry into the systems-installation stage. The event served as both a celebration of that progress and a signal that the new road will soon open to motorists.
At the event, Sunbury MP Josh Bull joined runners, joking, “There no need for panic—we haven’t built a multibillion-dollar tunnel just for running,” adding, “very soon hundreds of thousands of motorists will be using it too.” He said the community day reflected the excitement in the west ahead of opening day.
When complete, the four-kilometre route will connect the West Gate Freeway to the Maribyrnong River via twin tunnels, continuing onto the elevated skyroad and linking directly to the Port of Melbourne, CityLink, Footscray Road and the new Wurundjeri Way extension. It includes four extra through-lanes on the West Gate Freeway and three express lanes in each direction between the M80 and the bridge, supported by smart technology to manage incidents and keep traffic moving.
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