An urban planning and sustainability expert revealed the West Gate Tunnel project was not the government’s idea, but was pushed by Transurban using highly favourable traffic modelling.

Dr Liam Davies told 3AW Mornings host Tom Elliott Transurban was able to change the terms of its contract, which was estimated to generate the company $26 billion of additional revenue.

Press PLAY to hear how the state government ended up with the ‘raw end of the deal’

“The state government got the raw end of the deal … they were originally meant to chip in only something like $500 million and they ended up having to chip in several billion dollars,” he said.

Trucks travelling through inner north suburbs to avoid West Gate Tunnel

Images: @West Gate Tunnel Project/Facebook, Diego Fedele/Getty Images