Page 3754 - Week 12 - Thursday, 25 November 2021
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The ACT government, through Major Projects Canberra, is working collaboratively with the National Capital Authority. The project reached an important milestone just after the budget was delivered in October, with the lodgement of works approval and environmental assessment for the National Capital Authority’s consideration and public exhibition. These key documents are now on public display, and I encourage Canberrans to lodge questions, view the videos, maps and fact sheets on the NCA website and provide their feedback. Formal submissions can be made until 5 pm on 10 December.
As these works have been getting underway in the city centre to prepare for the delivery of light rail, we are also undertaking significant upgrades in Woden town centre through the delivery of a brand-new CIT campus and a new public transport interchange, including the future light rail stop.
This year’s budget ensures that the Woden public transport interchange will be light-rail-ready, with funding to deliver the light rail stop at the heart of the new interchange. The Woden light rail stop will be designed in line with the design along stage 1 of the route and will be used for bus services until the completion of stage 2B—specifically, the rapid bus services. We expect the interchange to be ready towards the end of next year, in time for the old interchange to be demolished to make way for Canberra’s brand-new, state-of-the-art CIT campus.
The CIT campus Woden project will bring state-of-the-art learning facilities, improved active travel links and more vibrant public spaces to Woden. This new precinct will be a place that welcomes students, commuters and Woden residents, whether to study, use public transport, access the local shops, including Westfield—as well as services co-located with the campus—or, of course, as a place to meet with others in the new public plazas and green spaces. It will revitalise the eastern side of Woden town centre while better connecting it through to popular green spaces in Eddison Park, Woden Town Park, Arabanoo Park and through to the town square.
The new CIT campus will be home to around 6,500 students, and approximately 10,000 commuters are expected to move through the new public transport interchange every day. The project includes a new pedestrian boulevard, which will connect the interchange through to the campus on a new shared zone, linking Bowes and Bradley streets with links through to the Woden town square and the mall. Our aim is to deliver a modern, vibrant and well-connected space. We are currently consulting with the community on features like active travel, way-finding, safety and what they would like to see included in a revitalised Woden town centre. This community input will feed directly into the next stage of design work, following the appointment of a construction partner in early 2022.
This budget continues our commitment to delivering major new infrastructure projects that shape the future of our city, whether it is making our city better connected through light rail, revitalising the Woden town centre with the new CIT campus and interchange, or the many other great initiatives that Major Projects Canberra has underway and in the pipeline. I look forward to speaking on CIT in a later part of the debate.
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