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. News of the work was prompted by the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis. Experts were reported as saying the West Gate was initially designed to carry loads of but now carried B-double trucks weighing up to . The bridge was built to carry 40,000 vehicles a day but volumes had grown to more than four times the original number, approximately 160,000 vehicles on an average day.