Page 823 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 6 April 2022
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that carry Commonwealth Avenue across London Circuit as well as the transfer of around 60,000 cubic metres of fill to raise the road six metres, providing a new direct connection from the city to the lake.
Two of the existing clover-leaf ramps will also be removed, with access routes via Edinburgh Avenue and Constitution Avenue channelling traffic to the city’s west and east. The works will include new pedestrian footpath links and dedicated cycle lanes to make it easy for people to walk and cycle through the new precinct. The works approval also gave the green light to install traffic lights along Parkes Way westbound on Coranderrk Street to cut travel time for commuters coming from Canberra’s south-west and from the north and Belconnen to the city. I am pleased to say that the procurement for raising London Circuit has commenced, and works are expected to get underway later this year in what will be the biggest change to the road network in our city’s centre since the 1960s.
MS ORR: Minister, what benefits will this project provide to Canberrans?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for her supplementary. This project is a great example of what we are working to achieve in transport right across Canberra. Spaces that work for public transport, walking and cycling just as well as they do for cars. The current intersection is one of the widest and hardest-to-access parts of the city, far away from the vibrancy that we see on other streets. We want to see the city’s south become a more accessible and more activated part of the city, connected to the bustling new Acton precinct and a short walk to Commonwealth Park.
This project will turn a busy and hard-to-navigate road interchange into a more people-friendly place for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. It will support many of the additional infrastructure commitments that the ACT government has planned in the city centre, including the renewal of the Canberra Theatre precinct and the Acton boardwalk and is also a key precursor project for the extension of the light rail network across the lake to Woden. Once opened, this new intersection will also help to facilitate the release of new land for inner-city homes and new local businesses, which will support the first stage of a continuous connection from the city to the lake.
The project will also support hundreds of jobs in the construction as part of the ACT government’s plan to create and protect local jobs by delivering infrastructure that is built for Canberra and built to support the city Canberrans want in the future.
DR PATERSON: A supplementary: Minister, how will the ACT government manage disruption during construction of this project?
MR STEEL: I thank Dr Paterson for her question. The government has been very upfront with the community that raising London circuit and the following construction of light rail to Woden will cause considerable disruption to our road network. While early work will get underway this year, the most disruptive construction work on the project is likely to begin next year, in 2023. That is why we have been working for over a year now to prepare for this, through the disruption taskforce. But we need the community’s help too. In the months to come we will be encouraging Canberrans to
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