The high span bridge was built to allow large cargo ships to access the docks in the Yarra River.

The freeway corridor (including the bridge itself) carries a very high volume and occupancy of traffic; a total of between 180,000 and 200,000 cars, trucks, and motorcycles use it per day, according to VicRoads.

[1] The bridge is windswept as there are no significant obstructing terrain features for some distance, particularly in the quadrant from south to west, a common wind direction.

Previously wind warning lights were present at the bridge approaches to control traffic (amber – bridge closed to motorbikes and high vehicles, red – closed to all traffic), but the former practice is to reduce the speed limit to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) or 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph) when the wind speed gets too high.

The Westgate Punt is a foot ferry that runs directly below the bridge, taking cyclists and pedestrians across the Yarra between a jetty at Fishermans Bend near Westgate Park – Bay Trail and a jetty adjacent to Scienceworks Museum – Hobsons Bay Coastal Trail.

[12] In mid-1960 it was announced that the Association would raise the money to construct the bridge with government support keeping interest rates low; [13] the arrangement was envisaged as not, in itself, profit-making.

[14] In this year, the Western Industries Association applied to government for license to construct and operate a crossing on a toll basis.

Van Den Nouwelant writes, ‘the Lower Yarra Crossing Authority was granted a franchise by Act of Parliament and in 1968 construction started on the West Gate Bridge.’ [21] It was noted by the press at the time that the location of the bridge's eastern approaches would require the removal of the Fishermen's Bend airstrip.

[22] Two years into construction of the bridge, at 11:50 am on 15 October 1970, the 112-metre (367-foot) span between piers 10 and 11 collapsed and fell 50 metres (164 feet) to the ground and water below.

The whole 2,000-tonne (4,400,000 lb) mass plummeted into the Yarra River mud with an explosion of gas, dust and mangled metal that shook buildings hundreds of metres away.

On the following morning, 16 October, Sir Henry Bolte (Premier of Victoria) announced that a Royal Commission would be set up immediately to look into the cause of the disaster.

Prime Minister John Gorton, said: "I am sure the whole of Australia is shocked and saddened by the serious accident at West Gate Bridge.

On the day of the collapse, there was a difference in camber of 11.4 centimetres (4.5 in) between two half-girders at the west end of the span which needed to be joined.

Six twisted fragments of the collapsed bridge can be found in the West Gate garden at the engineering faculty of Monash University, Clayton campus.

[33] Following the publication of the Report of the Royal Commission in August 1971, the Lower Yarra Crossing Authority, a non-profit company,[34] formed its own Directorate of Engineering.

Intensive reviews of the structure focused attention on the inadequate strength of the original design of the bridge's deck.

This consisted of a 100 mm reinforced concrete slab acting compositely with a steel deck plate stiffened by bulb flats.

This orthotropic deck is a steel plate stiffened longitudinally by closely spaced cellular troughs and laterally, at intervals, by cross beams.

The joint venture contractor engaged Flint and Neill of London for this and their design was proof-checked by the Directorate of Engineering.

[46] In 2006 the State Government spent $1.3 million on erecting railway style boom barriers at each entrance to the bridge to block traffic in the event of a terrorist attack.

[50] On 5 August 2007, it was reported that the Victorian Government was planning a $240 million project to identify and eliminate structural weaknesses in the bridge, with specific concerns including crash barriers, cracking, corrosion and potential buckling.

[58] The flag was a collaborative design between four contributing artists (Brook Andrew, Helen Johnson, Kate Daw and Jon Campbell[59]) who shared an affinity with the bridge.

[61] Strong growth in suburbs along the route, and increased freight through the Port of Melbourne, means that the corridor is experiencing traffic congestion during peak periods, is vulnerable to short-term interruptions, and is rapidly approaching capacity.

Sir Rod Eddington, Chairman of the Victorian Major Events Company and former CEO of British Airways, was to head the assessment of the future east–west connections and recommend the best way forward for public transport, road and freight travel for the entire Monash-West Gate corridor.

In December 2008, the State Government announced it was planning for such a link, anticipated to be a three-kilometre road tunnel under Footscray and the Maribyrnong River.

A 2004 coroner's report recommended anti-suicide fencing or barriers be erected on the bridge to deter people from attempting to end their lives.

[66] Those who argued for a suicide barrier claimed that most of those who jump from the West Gate Bridge do so through impulse, and that police officers who tried to save jumpers were putting their own lives in danger.

[69] In June 2008, Gabriela Garcia jumped off the West Gate Bridge with her 22-month-old son Oliver, and their bodies were found on the river bank below.

A week after that incident, on 5 February 2009, 17-year-old Allem Halkic jumped from the inbound lanes near the Todd Road exit on the Port Melbourne side of the bridge.

In October 2011 a coronial inquest was held into the death, again recommending (among other things) the installation of anti-suicide barriers on the bridge.