Fascinating timelapse photo look at West Gate Tunnel elevated freeway over Footscray Rd

The last piece of the LA-style elevated freeway over Footscray Rd for Melbourne’s $10.8bn West Gate Tunnel project has been put in place — see how the road has taken shape.

The last 100-tonne piece of a new elevated freeway has been put in place over Footscray Rd for the $10.8bn West Gate Tunnel project.

The 2km stretch of LA-style high road will link central Melbourne and CityLink freeway to the under-construction twin tunnels at Yarraville.

A 116m-long gantry has been lifting the pieces of pre-built road into position on to large concrete supports.

The milestone follows major construction works which have caused closures and delays for drivers on Footscray and Dynon roads, as well as constant disruptions to rail services on the Williamstown line.

The troubled project to provide a new river crossing to the west is about three years behind schedule and costs have blown out by at least $4.1bn.

Aerial images of the new Footscray Rd.

The last 100-tonne piece of a new elevated freeway has now been put in place over Footscray Rd for the West Gate Tunnel project.

The stretch of road will link central Melbourne and CityLink freeway to the under-construction twin tunnels at Yarraville.

The road provides a new river crossing to the west.

The next stage of the road construction will include building bridge barriers.

The gantry that built the freeway will be dismantled soon.

The tunnels under Yarraville are expected to open to traffic sometime in 2025.

The next stage of the road construction will include building bridge barriers, installing a new freeway management system and asphalting the six-lane freeway.

The gantry that built the high road will be dismantled over the next five weeks.

Work will also soon start on a new bridge over Dudley St in West Melbourne, and extending Wurundjeri Way to Dynon Rd to create a new city bypass which aims take as many as 2500 cars and trucks away from Spencer and King Streets every day.

And last weekend the first of two bridge beams were installed for a new ramp to CityLink northbound.

The tunnels under Yarraville are expected to open to traffic sometime in 2025 - about seven years since works began.

A 4m-wide elevated cycle way will also take riders from Moonee Ponds Creek and Maribyrnong River.

The 2.5km “veloway”, to be built from December, will be positioned just under the two elevated roadways.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the elevated Footscray Rd would slash travel times for western suburbs’ residents.

“And (it will) take thousands of trucks off local roads, connecting the tunnels to CityLink and the CBD and providing direct access to the port,” Mr Andrews said.

The tunnels will connect to the West Gate Freeway which is being widened at the same time.