What it will cost you to drive the West Gate Tunnel: New rates revealed
New toll rates published show how much it will cost to travel through the new West Gate Tunnel, with motorists set to pay more than $16 per day. Find out what you will be charged.
Victoria
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Motorists in cars will be slugged up to $16.78 a day for using the new West Gate Tunnel when it opens this year.
New toll rates published by Transurban this week show how much each type of vehicle will be charged to use the new road and tunnel, which connects the West Gate Freeway to CityLink.
Two regular toll points are on the new road for cars, motorcycles, and utes or small trucks – at Hyde St ramps and in the tunnel itself – and will charge cars $4.09 for a one-way trip.
A third toll point near to CityLink and west Melbourne exit points is designed to whack motorists with a special AM peak toll, worth $6.54 for cars, in a bid to push more motorists away from peak periods to spread traffic across the morning.
This means it will cost $10.63 to drive in a car through the new tunnel between 7am and 9am.
Vans and light commercial vehicles will cop an even higher toll.
Once the tunnel opens later this year, it is expected that motorists from the west will save up to 20 minutes during peak periods by easing congestion on the West Gate Bridge.
Toll prices and escalation rates were set by the Government when it struck a $6.3bn deal with Transurban to build the new road and tunnel.
This also included a 10-year extension of its CityLink tolling deed, which will deliver multi-billion dollar windfalls.
As part of the generous deal, toll rates on the West Gate Tunnel climbed by 4.25 per cent a year from 2019, despite the project being under construction.
The project was also hit by a three-year delay due to a dispute over toxic soil, meaning motorists will pay almost $2 more for a 24-hour pass on the first day it opens, compared to if the road had opened in 2022, as promised.
A Transurban spokeswoman said 80 per cent of CityLink customers paid less than $10 a week in tolls, and the new road would transform travel across Melbourne by taking trucks off local streets and giving drivers an alternative to the West Gate Bridge.
“Customers continue to experience travel time savings of up to 30 minutes on trips using CityLink and have done so over the past 15 years, despite population in Melbourne increasing by around 1.3 million in that time,” she said.
Trucks will be stung by a new toll point on the West Gate Freeway, which has been widened as part of the $10.2 billion project, in a bid to get them to use the new tunnel instead – at a cost of up to $74 a day.
A 24 hour cap is in place for the new toll system, meaning the most cars will pay in one full day is $16.78.
The new tunnel, which is about $4bn over budget, is expected to carry up to 67,000 motorists a day.
Originally published as What it will cost you to drive the West Gate Tunnel: New rates revealed
Questions over acting Premier’s eligibility for top job
Victoria has a new leader in charge while Jacinta Allan and her deputy Ben Carroll are both on leave. The circumstances of the appointment haven’t been seen since 1868.
Read more
Accused childcare rapist was investigated at work. His next employer wasn’t told
The early learning provider that hired alleged pedophile Joshua Brown after he was investigated for allegedly “aggressively” manhandling children while working for G8 Education wasn’t told about the probes.
Read more