West Gate Freeway

West Gate Freeway Victoria
West Gate Bridge looking towards Melbourne CBD
West end East end
Coordinates	37°49′39″S 144°49′02″E / 37.827632°S 144.817209°E / -37.827632; 144.817209 (West end) 37°49′37″S 144°57′51″E / 37.826840°S 144.964082°E / -37.826840; 144.964082 (East end)
General information
Type	Freeway
Length	13.7 km (8.5 mi)[1]
Opened	1971–1988
Route number(s)	M1 (1996–present)
Former route number	National Route 1 (1978–1996) Freeway Route 82 (1971–1988)
Tourist routes	Tourist Drive 2 (1989–present) (Spotswood–Southbank)
Major junctions
West end	Princes Freeway Laverton North, Melbourne
	Western Ring Road Grieve Parade Millers Road Williamstown Road CityLink Montague Street Kings Way Power Street
East end	CityLink Southbank, Melbourne
Location(s)
LGA(s)	City of Melbourne City of Hobsons Bay
Major suburbs / towns	Altona North, Spotswood, Port Melbourne
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Highways in Victoria
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The West Gate Freeway is a major freeway in Melbourne, the busiest urban freeway and the busiest road in Australia, carrying upwards of 200,000 vehicles per day. It links Geelong (via the Princes Freeway) and Melbourne's western suburbs to central Melbourne and beyond. It is also a link between Melbourne and the west and linking industrial and residential areas west of the Yarra River with the city and port areas. The West Gate Bridge is a part of the freeway.

It is a fully managed freeway with a complete 'Freeway Management System' that is dynamically linked and adaptive to the entire M1 corridor. This includes the 2008 re-design of a substantial section. Overall, the freeway has between 4-6 lanes in each direction, with a maximum of 12 lanes at one point in its width.