A huge crane, perched on the western limb of the disjointed structure, will slowly raise the 120-tonne box to a point about 50 metres above the river. As it dangles precariously from the steel cables workmen will begin the long-awaited task of bolting it into position. By about 3 pm it will be possible to walk across the bridge, from Port Melbourne to Williamstown. But it will be at least late August before West Gate is opened to traffic. West Gate Bridge and Melbourne skyline, May 1978. Credit:Fairfax Archives For the next month or so the bridge will have a perilous 13-centimetre bump in the middle. The box-girder used to fill the final 16-metre gap will be attached to only one side of the bridge — the other side of the bridge will be lower until the supporting steel cables are tightened and it is lifted into line. Standing near the apex of this slender steel highway it is difficult to imagine such a solid edifice being so pliable. But West Gate’s engineers can actually raise or lower either side of the bridge into its correct position by tightening or loosening the steel strands which hold it up.

In fact, it is so pliable that critics say it will sway in the wind and could be unsafe. The West Gate Bridge Authority rejects these claims but nevertheless has installed computerised wind gauges that will signal controllers to close the bridge if wind reaches a predetermined velocity. Premier Dick Hamer [R] with the chairman of the West Gate Authority, Mr O. Meyer, at the opening of the West Gate Bridge. Credit:Fairfax Archives At another lower level the bridge will be closed to high-sided tucks which, it is feared, could be blown over. But the authority is confident the winds off Port Phillip Bay will never reach the "unsafe” levels. THE question of safety has been paramount since the tragic collapse of span 10-11 on October 15, 1970. Thirty-five workmen died and a Royal Commission laid most of the blame at the feet of the original designers, Freeman Fox and Partners. The commission listed inadequate supervision, provision of inexperienced engineering staff, failure to answer design queries and responsibility for the removal of certain bolts from the ill-fated span as errors by Freeman Fox.

lt said the firm which began the steelwork on the bridge, World Services and Construction Pty. Ltd., “fell far short of ordinary competence". The company which took over the steel erection six months before the collapse, John Holland and Company Pty. Ltd., was “over-confident", the commissioners said. Early morning peak hour on the eastbound lane, 1980. Credit:Fairfax Archives And they said the West Gate Bridge Authority, then called the Lower Yarra Crossing Authority, then caused its contractors to make serious errors of judgment by creating a climate of urgency and pressure. This was “fundamental to the whole sorry situation.” The design was revised and new contractors were put on the job. But it seems West Gate will never escape controversy. The State Opposition continues to question the way in which the bridge has been financed and built, many motorists don't want to pay a toll to use it, and some others say it is not even needed. The Labor Party claims the Government should not have allowed a private company to build such mammoth bridge with borrowed funds, which the State has guaranteed to repay if the bridge's owners default.

Historic moment - workers shake hands as the West Gate Bridge joins up, 1978. Credit:Fairfax Archives In fact, the estimated cost of the bridge, and therefore the tax payers' liability, has risen from $32 million in 1965, to $145 million. As well, there are now interest and holding charges owing totalling about $50 million. And if the tolls collected from drivers do not pay off the loans within 40 years, the amount owing will come out of the State Treasury. The other major criticism of the West Gate Bridge Authority is that it is a public company, formed by a consortium of western suburbs' industries to promote its own sectional interests — the more rapid flow of traffic, especially commercial vehicles and trucks, between the eastern and western suburbs. This company has Government guaranteed finances but is not responsible to the State Parliament. It needs only the approval of the Premier and Treasurer, Mr. Hamer, to borrow even more money.

West Gate Bridge collapse, The Age, 1970. Credit:Fairfax Archives And the fact that the bridge is privately owned, at least until the loans are paid off and it is handed over free of debts to the Government in 40 years, raises another contentious issue. It is in the interests of the bridge authority for traffic to grow so that tolls will be maximised. But within 10 years the depletion of oil reserves might force the State to discourage private vehicle use. So there could be an open conflict between Government policies and the authority's self-interest. Criticism of the proposed tolls is, I believe, ill-founded. While there might be cause for concern over the method of funding the bridge, there is certainly no doubt that tolls are the best way of paying it off. Funds for all other roads and bridges in the State come out of taxes. But the people who use West Gate will be the ones who pay for it. The State Opposition also objects to the way the bridge has been redesigned and built since the 1970 collapse. It claims $80 million and four years of construction time could have been saved if the authority had accepted the recommendations of its former engineering director, Dr. W. A. Fairhurst.

On the day the bridge opened, Christine Fitzsimmonds, 9, stood before the memorial plaque at the base of the bridge and wiping a tear from her eye, laid a floral tribute to her father, Bernard, one of 35 men who died in the disaster. Credit:Fairfax Archives The former Opposition transport spokesman, Mr. Barry Jones, has repeatedly alleged that directors of the authority conspired to reject the Fairhurst plan in favour of a design produced by a German engineer, Dr. Karl Heinz Roik, and a director of the engineering firm Gutteridge, Haskins and Davey, Mr. Hans Wolfram. Mr. Jones, now a Federal MP, told the House of Representatives this month that the deputy chairman of the authority at the time the Wolfram-Roik plan was accepted was the then managing director of Gutteridge, Haskins and Davey, Sir Bernard Callinan. He said the elimination of the Fairhurst plan had "all the classic elements of a conspiracy." “The very complexity of the issues involved was a trump card in the hands of the conspirators," Mr. Jones added. And D. Fairhurst had resigned in disgust. "The West Gate Bridge fiasco is a horrifying example of the failure of Governments composed of non-specialists to understand and adequately supervise projects, involving complex technical matters.”

The Government and the authority have rejected the allegations, saying there was no proof that the Fairhurst plan would have been cheaper, safer or easier to build than the Wolfram-Roik plan. WEST GATE is a valuable, and overdue, asset. Claims that it is not needed are dangerously short-sighted. Its critics claim it has been over-designed: official surveys show that only 40,000 vehicles will use the 125,000-capacity bridge in the first year. But by 1995 this figure is expected to rise to 100,000. It's about time our planners looked further ahead than the immediate future. Entrance to the bridge at 5.00 pm - evening peak hour traffic, 1979. Tolls were abolished in 1985, because drivers were using other routes to avoid the toll. Credit:Fairfax Archives Aesthetically, it’s a plus. West Gate is awesome but graceful. The unfinished steel deck, strewn with construction equipment, will soon be covered with a smooth layer of bitumen. For their toll, motorists will get a shortcut between east and west — and a spectacular view of their city.

There is more to building a bridge than simply building a bridge. Out of the old Port Melbourne rubbish dump, surrounding the eastern approach ramp to West Gate, a garden of 100,000 native trees and shrubs have been planted there — twice as many as in the Botanic Gardens. And then there are the tolls. They have to be high enough to pay off the bridge but sufficiently attractive to coax motorists away from traditional cross-town routes. Last week's premature reports that the tolls will be as low as 40 or 50 cents were apparently wrong. Private motorists might pay a dollar or so each time they drive across West Gate. Truckies could pay two or three times as much. But think of the savings in travel time and fuel consumption. West Gate Bridge taken from Middle Park at sunset, 2007. Credit:Rebecca Hallas Once construction is complete one man and a computer will control the bridge's operations. A futuristic control centre has been built at the Port Melbourne end of the bridge overlooking the toll collection booths. The duty controller will sit before a bank of computer consoles and closed circuit television sets controlling the flow of traffic as he would regulate a tap. A breakdown and emergency squad will be on 24-hour call. Motorists will alert the crews from any of the 110 emergency roadside telephones now being installed. The bridge controller will also be able to spot trouble an any section of the bridge with the help of television cameras erected above the roadway.

And the authority is prepared for toll evaders. The controller, with the aid of zoom lenses on the cameras, will take the registration numbers of cheats. The big blue and white computer at the back of the control room is linked with sensors built into the road pavement near the toll gates. It will count the number of axels and wheels on each vehicle to make sure the correct toll is paid. But the rear of the control room has some disturbing gadgetry. There is a box mounted on the wall which, when illuminated, flashes a message "EVACUATE AREA IMMEDIATELY". Below it is an array of emergency breathing apparatus — oxygen tanks and masks. “It's in case of fire,” says the computer technician. And on top of the computer consoles is a small box, which looks like a digital alarm clock. It displays the wind speed and direction, monitored at the top of the bridge every two minutes. The authority won’t disclose the limit; it says the wind will probably never get that fierce. But if it does, the shutters will go up on West Gate.