Roadshow offers chance to drive new tunnel

PEOPLE in Geelong can virtually drive the West Gate Tunnel before it opens as the project hits the road to take the new tunnel to the regions.

The West Gate Tunnel Project will be completed later this year, delivering major benefits for the more than 200,000 vehicles a day that use the West Gate Freeway including people travelling to and from Geelong.

It will provide an alternative to the West Gate Bridge, easing congestion on the West Gate Freeway by widening the freeway from eight to 12 through lanes.

Once complete, drivers will be able to enter the new tunnel from the West Gate Freeway and then travel towards the city and take exits to North and West Melbourne, Docklands or CityLink.

The Geelong community has the opportunity to see how their journeys will change to and from Melbourne, with the West Gate Tunnel Project Regional Roadshow coming to the Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre
this week.

The roadshow features a driving simulator, to give people a glimpse of what future drives using the new tunnel, roads and connections will look like.

It will educate communities about the new roads and connections being delivered by the West Gate Tunnel Project, and how people travelling between Geelong and Melbourne will benefit when travelling to and from the city.

People can also ask questions about the project and find out how construction is progressing before it is completed later this year.

The roadshow arrived at Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre on Friday last week and will depart this Sunday, June 22.

The project will deliver several benefits to those travelling from Geelong, including:

• Faster and more reliable travel
• Improved access to Melbourne’s Western suburbs and central business district
• More lanes and state-of-the-art freeway technology to keep traffic moving smoothly, reduce congestion and improve on-road safety
• A better connection to Avalon Airport from Melbourne, supporting domestic travel, and
• Supporting tourism with a new way to get to key tourist destinations such as the Bellarine Peninsula and Great Ocean Road from Melbourne.