East of the intersection with Bulla Road, it officially becomes CityLink's Western link,[4] running south to eventually meet the West Gate Freeway in Port Melbourne: before being subsumed into CityLink in 1999, the southern end of the Tullamarine Freeway ran south through the Moonee Ponds Creek reserve to terminate just north of central Melbourne in Parkville.

[citation needed] The improved sections, starting east of Bulla Road, were subsumed into CityLink as the northern half of the Western link, and are now tolled.

When CityLink opened in 1999, Metropolitan Route 43 was extended along the entire freeway, including the Western link, to its end in Port Melbourne.

The freeway is used by SkyBus services to Melbourne Airport, and in 2002 the Victorian government contributed $3 million to a $10 million plan to expand and improve these services, after a feasibility study into an airport rail link found the number of passengers using a train would not make the scheme economically viable.

[4] Upgrades to the interchange with Calder Freeway were announced in January 2005,[16] which underwent dramatic reconstruction to alleviate congestion.

[20] Both projects were planned, designed and constructed under an alliance agreement between VicRoads, Baulderstone Hornibrook and Parsons Brinckerhoff.

[citation needed] In August 2015 a proposal to Widen the Citylink and Tullamarine Freeway was put in order which consists of 2 Stages which would increase the road's daily capacity as well as shorten trips between Melbourne Airport and The CBD During Morning Peak and Afternoon Peak Times.

[citation needed] [21] [22] Part of The Upgrade is adding more lanes between Melbourne Airport and the West Gate Freeway.