authority for the Lower Yarra Crossing Project; the State government authorised the construction of a tolled bridge over the Yarra with eight lanes.

Construction began on the first section of Lower Yarra Freeway in the late 1960s and was open to traffic by 1971, stretching from Princes Highway just south of the intersection with Little Boundary Road in Laverton North (later enlarged and named the West Gate Interchange) eastwards to Melbourne/Williamstown Roads just west of the