[6] Patronage decreased by more than 65% in the week following the introduction of a reduced toll period, and remains considerably lower than predicted volumes.

[7] Despite being completed on time and on budget, the tunnel has been an economic failure due to incorrect predictions of traffic volume.

[12] The major benefit of the 6.8 km (4.2 mi) toll road is that it bypasses 24 sets of traffic lights, potentially saving 15 minutes of travel time, and provides an additional Brisbane River crossing.

[13] Northern connections include Lutwyche Road, the Inner City Bypass and the Airport Link tunnel.

[19] Included in the design are a series of urban enhancements such as parklands and road widening in adjacent suburbs.

The successful tenderer, Rivercity Motorway Limited, was announced by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman on 27 April 2006, beating a bid by the Brisconnections consortium.

With a price difference of A$20 million the decision to build a two-lane tunnel was criticised in some circles as short-sighted.

[5] Brisconnections won the tender for the Airport Link with a similarly aggressive bid that requires almost double the traffic anticipated by government to be successful.

One of the reasons for building the tunnel as a public-private partnership was that it should reduce Brisbane City Council's risks regarding construction and operation.

However, the public disclosure documents released by Rivercity Motorway indicate that there are still considerable uncosted risks left with Council.

For example, a 10 m extension was required for the exhaust stack at the Woolloongabba end of the tunnel and the full cost by the council.

[23] During a typical weekday period more than 25 trucks per hour were hauling removed soil and rock along Kingsford Smith Drive to an area near the Brisbane Airport.

[25] The system was designed to monitor site access and asset location and improve safety and efficiency in a high-profile and potentially hazardous worksite.

Both purpose-built double-shield boring machines began on the northern end, with the first arriving in Brisbane in July 2007 and cutting commencing in December after testing.

[19] In March 2005, local residents protested construction plans primarily due to the expected air pollution from exhaust ventilation stacks.

[33] Brisbane Mayor Cr Newman has been criticised over the tolling regime being inconsistent with his promises during the 2004 election.

[34] Due to lack of patronage, on 28 June 2010 River City Motorways announced reduced tolls of $2.00 per car from 1 July 2010 until 15 November 2010, hoping to increase traffic.

[42] The lower traffic volumes resulted in the toll discount period being extended to 30 June 2010,[6] and again until September.

[35] After the poor patronage figures were released Rivercity Motorway shares immediately dropped by one fifth of their value, and have since declined to 0% of their initial value.

[46] The traffic estimates produced for Rivercity Motorway by Maunsell (now AECOM) include a two-year ramp-up period from opening at 60,000 to an annual average daily volume of 100,000 vehicles in 2012.

In the most recent Rivercity Motorway Financial Report it was noted that "if traffic assumptions over the entire concession period differed to estimates by +/-5% then the value in use would be impacted by +/-$99 million".

After the toll was implemented, only the Story Bridge and Inner City Bypass showed a reduction (of around 5%) in traffic compared to before the tunnel was open.