The launch site - from where the 90 m long TBMs will dig south west to build the twin tunnels to connect the West Gate Freeway to the port, city and CityLink in Melbourne - has taken a year to complete, coming in at 300 m long, 40 m wide and 22 m deep. The West Gate Tunnel will provide an alternative to the West Gate Bridge and will be taking 9000 trucks of residential streets.

Crews will now start lowering pieces of the first TBM to launch, Bella, into the ground using a gantry crane capable of lifting up to 500 t.

After Bella has been completely assembled underground, parts of the second TBM Vida, that will dig the shorter citybound tunnel, will be assembled above ground before being lowered into the launch site. The launch site is lined with 20,000 m3 of reinforced concrete to provide a stable site to launch the 4000 t machines.

Once tunnelling is complete, the launch site will become the future northern entry and exit to the West Gate Tunnel. Click here and au/35for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit http://westgatetunnelproject.vic.gov.au and https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au. 29/19.