Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel is set to open to traffic in December, but next week members of the public have been invited to a Discovery Day, and will be able to walk through a 2.5-kilometre route that takes in parts of the tunnel and new elevated roadway.
It’s a great way for people to see the new infrastructure and understand where things will help and change traffic flow, all with the family and pets in tow.
Is this a good way to launch a new road? Sure!
Is this the BEST way to launch a new road? Not quite…
Back in August 1992, the 2.8-kilometre Sydney Harbour Tunnel was opened. This allowed another stream of vehicles to make the crossing under Port Jackson, alongside the existing Sydney Harbour Bridge.
On August 30, pedestrians were allowed to walk the route before the tunnel opened to traffic on the 31st, but before this, Channel 9 reporter Liz Hayes enjoyed an unofficial opening of the tunnel with race driver Allan Grice.
At the time, Grice was running for parliament in Queensland for the seat of Broadwater for the National Party. He won with a considerable margin.
As part of his campaign coverage, Grice was interviewed by Liz Hayes on the Today Show while driving a Holden VN Commodore Group A race car through the soon-to-be-opened Harbour Tunnel.
Grice noted of the tunnel, “I think it’s great!”.
Hayes and Grice didn’t just meander along the freshly completed road, however, as the clip shows Grice ‘reviewed’ the tunnel at pace.
“Plenty of reflection, plenty of light, a very grippy surface – much more grippy than you would find out on a normal hotmix road,” he said in the interview.
“There is no reason why somebody doing the speed limit of 60km/h through here should ever run up the backside of somebody else.”
“But they will. You watch,” said Grice.
The car featured in the clip was a non-racing engineering prototype used by HSV and the Holden Racing Team to develop the on-track race cars.
With over 20 years of experience in digital publishing, James Ward has worked within the automotive landscape since 2007 and brings experience from the publishing, manufacturer and lifestyle side of the industry together to spearhead Drive's multi-media content direction.
