Running under the Yarra River and the inner suburbs of Richmond and Burnley, the tunnel provides a bypass of the central business district.

The first known person to enter the tunnel as a paying client was Ben Johnstone during which time the whole process was played out live on 3AW.

Also in 2001 Transfield Obayashi Joint Venture agreed to pay Transurban $157 million in damages in an out-of-court settlement over late completion of the tunnel.

The crash resulted in an explosion and a subsequent fire which reached temperatures in excess of 1,000 °C (1,832 °F) according to firefighters,[6] and forced the evacuation of motorists from both the Burnley and nearby Domain tunnels.

Three people died in the accident: Geoff Kennard, 51; Damian McDonald, an Australian cyclist who won a gold medal in the road team time trial at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, and also represented Australia at the 1996 Summer Olympics;[7] and Darren Hartley Sporn, a father of two daughters, who owned a plumbing business.

The Public Address & Radio Rebroadcast Systems advised motorists to turn off their ignition, leave the keys in, and to evacuate the tunnel.

Hundreds waited at the tunnel's west entrance until emergency services advised it was safe to remove their vehicles.

The smoke extraction system functioned as planned and removed toxic fumes from the tunnel and out into the open air.

St John Ambulance Australia emergency medical teams were also put on standby in case the accident was deemed as a major disaster and many more injured and fatalities had arisen.

It was subject to significant engineering problems and delays during construction due to unexpectedly high water pressures at its maximum depth of 65 m (213 ft).