Graham Farmer Freeway and Northbridge Tunnel turn 10

Transport Minister Simon O'Brien said today that Perth's Graham Farmer Freeway (GFF) was delivering tens of millions of dollars in benefits to the West Australian community annually.

Speaking on the 10th anniversary of the opening of the freeway and associated Northbridge traffic tunnel, Mr O'Brien said direct savings due to reduced crashes, vehicle operating costs and  travel time amounted to more than $1.4billion since 2000.

"The freeway and tunnel are doing exactly what they were designed to do - providing an uninterrupted, time saving east-west route, bypass of Perth's CBD," he said.

"Before its construction, people had to use Riverside Drive and the East Perth Causeway, resulting in congestion and high crash rates.

"The Northbridge tunnel carries about 100,000 vehicles per day and is one of the busiest road tunnels in Australia during peak hour.

"Since its opening, more than 285 million vehicles have passed through it."

The Minister said the project was a tribute to the Court Coalition Government of the 1990s which had the vision to plan, design and build such a strategically important piece of transport infrastructure.

"It is unfortunate this vision was not shared by the then Labor Opposition who campaigned fiercely against the project, going as far to say that it would increase congestion," he said.

"Road users, however, voted with their feet.  Some 50,000 people turned out on Easter Saturday, April 22, 2000, for the public open day and walked and cycled the length of the GFF.

The GFF is 6.5km long, linking Mitchell Freeway to Orrong Road in Rivervale, and includes the 1.6km Northbridge tunnel.

It cost $385million to build.  In today's dollars, it would cost up to $800million to replicate the project, $95million more than the new Kwinana Freeway Extension and Forrest Highway.

"The sheer cost, size and traffic volumes currently handled by the GFF and Northbridge tunnel demonstrate just how important it has been to the development of Perth into an accessible and modern city," Mr O'Brien said.