West Gate Bridge
| West Gate Bridge | |
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View of the bridge with a River Cruise Boat passing under
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| Coordinates | 37°49′46″S 144°53′53″E / 37.82944°S 144.89806°ECoordinates: 37°49′46″S 144°53′53″E / 37.82944°S 144.89806°E |
| Carries | 10 lanes (5 inbound, 5 outbound) (After expansion) |
| Crosses | Yarra River |
| Locale | Melbourne, Australia |
| Official name | West Gate Bridge |
| Maintained by | VicRoads |
| ID number | WGB |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cable-stayed box girder |
| Total length | 2,582.6 metres (8,473.1 ft) |
| Width | Maximum of 37.3 metres (122.4 ft) |
| Longest span | 336 metres (1,102 ft) |
| Clearance below | 58 metres (190.3 ft) |
| History | |
| Opened | 15 November 1978 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 180,000 |
The bridge connects the Melbourne CBD with south-western suburbs and Geelong
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The West Gate Bridge is a steel box girder cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It spans the Yarra River, just north of its mouth into Port Phillip, and is a vital link between the inner city (CBD) and Melbourne's western suburbs; with the industrial suburbs in the west and with the city of Geelong, 80 kilometres (50 mi) to the south-west. It is one of the busiest road corridors in Australia.
The main river span is 336 metres (1,102 ft) in length, and the height above the water is 58 metres. The total length of the bridge is 2,582.6 metres (8,473.1 ft). It is the third longest in Australia behind the 3.2 kilometre Macleay River Bridge and the Houghton Highway along with its twin the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge, and is twice as long as the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is one of the highest bridges in Australia, most notably trailing the more iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The bridge passes over Westgate Park, a large environmental and recreational reserve created during the bridge's construction. The bridge carries up to 200,000 vehicles per day.
The West Gate Bridge carries five lanes of motor vehicle traffic in each direction, therefore a 10 lane dual-carriageway freeway bridge.
The freeway corridor (including the bridge itself) carries a very high volume and occupancy of traffic, between 180,000 - 200,000 cars / trucks / motorcycles use it per day, according to VicRoads. This makes the West Gate Bridge and West Gate Freeway one of the busiest road corridors in Australia.
However, being the only main direct link between Melbourne's CBD and the West, it is frequently congested during the morning and afternoon peaks (despite having 5 lanes in each direction) and is constantly busy 24/7, due to the amount and type of vehicles coming in and out of Melbourne (i.e.) Port of Melbourne.
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