West Gate Bridge

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West Gate Bridge
View of the bridge with a river cruise boat passing underneath
Coordinates	37°49′46″S 144°53′53″E / 37.82944°S 144.89806°E / -37.82944; 144.89806
Carries	10 lanes (5 inbound, 5 outbound) (after expansion)
Crosses	Yarra River
Locale	Melbourne, Australia
Official name	West Gate Bridge
Maintained by	Department of Transport
ID number	WGB
Characteristics
Design	Cable-stayed box girder
Total length	2,582.6 metres (8,473 ft)
Width	Maximum of 37.3 metres (122 ft)
Longest span	336 metres (1,102 ft)
Clearance below	58 metres (190 ft)
History
Opened	15 November 1978; 45 years ago (1978-11-15)
Statistics
Daily traffic	180,000
Location

The West Gate Bridge is a steel, box girder, cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, spanning the Yarra River just north of its mouth into Port Phillip. It carries the West Gate Freeway and is a vital link between the Melbourne central business district (CBD) and 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 part of one of the busiest road corridors in Australia. The high span bridge was built to allow large cargo ships to access the docks in the Yarra River.

The main river span is 336 metres (1,102 ft) long, and 58 metres (190 ft) above the water. The total length of the bridge is 2,582.6 metres (8,473 ft). It is the fifth-longest in Australia, the longest being Melbourne's Bolte Bridge at 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). The West Gate Bridge is twice as long as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and is one of the highest road decks in Australia, higher than Sydney Harbour Bridge's 49 metres (161 ft).

The bridge passes over Westgate Park, a large environmental and recreational reserve created during the bridge's construction. It carries up to 200,000 vehicles per day.