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- Gateway WA, formally called the Gateway WA Perth Airport and Freight Access Project, was a $1 billion project that upgraded the road network around Perth Airport. The project was located on portions of the southern parts of Perth Airport land, and adjacent land allocated for transport. It lay mainly within the local government area of the City of Belmont, with the eastern area located in the City of Kalamunda. It was the largest project Main Roads Western Australia had ever undertaken, covering the upgrade of Tonkin, Leach, and Roe Highways, and the construction of four new interchanges. The project was jointly funded by state and federal governments, which provided $317.5 million and $686.4 million respectively. As part of the project, Tonkin Highway was expanded from two to three lanes in both directions, between Great Eastern Highway and Roe Highway, and the existing intersections in this section was grade separated. A new diamond interchange was constructed at Boud Avenue (since known as the Dunreath Drive Interchange), to provide access to the domestic terminal precinct. International terminal access was provided via a new freeway-to-freeway cloverstack interchange at Leach Highway, and a single-point urban interchange which was constructed at Tonkin Highway's intersection with Horrie Miller Drive and Kewdale Road. The existing diamond interchange with Roe Highway was only upgraded to a partial freeway-to-freeway interchange, but with plans to further upgrade it to a completely free-flowing interchange in the future. The Gateway WA works were separate to Perth Airport redevelopment works undertaken at the same time. The new airport access road, Airport Drive, featured in both projects: the portion in the vicinity of its interchange with Leach and Tonkin Highways was constructed as part of Gateway WA, with the remainder – the majority of the road – part of the airport redevelopment. In January 2013, works were undertaken to protect or relocate sections of the Canning Trunk water main and the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline in the vicinity of the project. Construction on the Gateway WA project officially began on 1 February 2013 with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by the state and federal transport ministers, Troy Buswell and Anthony Albanese. The first section to be constructed was an entrance ramp from Abernethy Road to Tonkin Highway southbound. Work on the Leach Highway interchange was expected to commence at the end of 2013, with construction of the other interchanges scheduled to start at the end of 2014. The whole project was due to be completed by 2017, but then moved to mid-2016 due to the project's construction moving faster than predicted. In September 2015, the completion date was moved to March 2016 following the completion of the Tonkin Highway/Leach Highway, Leach Highway/Abernethy Road and Tonkin Highway/Dunreath Drive Interchanges that same month. The project was also estimated to be 50 million dollars under-budget. The project was announced as completed in April 2016. (en)
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