The cost for Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel project is expected to spiral out of control, and a transport expert attributed part of the problems to the Labor government’s rushing the project.
The West Gate Tunnel project is a four-kilometre toll road under construction that will upgrade the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville and link to CityLink at Docklands via a tunnel beneath Yarraville. It aims to relieve M1 congestion, give people more travel options and get trucks off local streets in the inner west.
The project’s initial estimated cost was $5.5 billion (US$3.6 billion) in 2015, but it went up to $6.7 billion in 2017. In 2021, the project was predicted to cost$10.8 billion under the revised budget. The project is also running about three years behind schedule, with the initial scheduled open date in 2022 postponed to 2025….