"Canberra News, Views and Opinion"
In the new era of tweet based governance Simon Corbell has announced $144 million from the Commonwealth to pay for half of the Majura Parkway.
We’ll post an official announcement should one be made available.
UPDATE: Senator Lundy is leading with a concrete statement:
More than 40 years after the first line appeared on a map, construction of the long awaited Majura Parkway will finally start next year and be completed in 2016.
Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese today said the project had secured the backing of the Gillard Labor Government and would receive $144 million in Federal funding, matching the ACT Government’s contribution dollar-for-dollar.
“Recommended by Infrastructure Australia and set to be built with monies from our Building Australia Fund, the Majura Parkway will make it easier for Canberrans to get around their city as well as well as taking trucks off local streets,” said Mr Albanese.
“Construction of this new road is an investment in Canberra’s future, with Infrastructure Australia putting its long term economic, social and environmental benefits at close to $1 billion.
“Funding for the Majura Parkway builds on the record capital works program we initiated in our very first budget back in 2008. Together with the Gallagher Labor Government, we’re building the modern, well planned transport infrastructure befitting Canberra’s status as our nation’s capital.
“This confirmation of funding for this project is the culmination of a persistent and passionate community campaign led by local MPs including Gai Brodtmann, Andrew Leigh, Mike Kelly and Senator Kate Lundy.”
The Majura Parkway will be an 11.5 kilometre long duplicated road with seven bridges and three interchanges at the intersections with Fairbairn Avenue, Federal Highway and Monaro Highway.
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Amazing how much money the Feds are prepared to put into building roads to the airport. It should be called the Pollie Exit Expressway.
The ‘sustainable transport plan’,no the ‘sustainable transport action plan’,no the ‘Transport for Canberra’ plan is now officially dead and buried. Canberrans will be forced to use theirs cars for a lot longer now until oil prices significantly rise again, but then we will be forced to buy electric cars I guess.
I expect they’ve done a deal regarding the tolls, which will be implemented but Families get an exemption (or compensation).
I still can’t see why they can’t just build a duplicate road next to the current one, then turn the current road into one half of the new road, rather than building this projected massive new thing ploughing through prime farming land.
I wonder if the Airport had a hand in it? If the road was moved way over to the west, they could make the runway longer. and take Jumbos and big freight planes.
Excellent now wait for the inevitable tolls. What are the chances of a toll being introduced on the GDE? Hmmm?
Only on the RiotACT could people find ways to complain about this. Heaven forbid we actually build something that will vastly improve both North and South access to the ACT, AND goes past the airport, whilst bypassing and reducing pressure on roads like Northbourne and Limestone Ave etc…
The Frots said :
Haha I misread this as “trolls”. Which is true too.
Rollersk8r said :
Wasn’t the the GDE supposed to improve the North South connection? funny thing happen when you build more and more roads ,you just get more and more traffic, and to solve the traffic congestion we just continue to build more roads or add another lane. The never ending story in reality
EvanJames said :
Are you trying to say the whole road is being moved west so there’s enough room left to the east of the road for a VFT corridor straight past the airport, so they can further their second-Sydney-airport dream?
Dunno where you’d get that sort of crazy idea.
A lot of people in Gungahlin and NSW over the border and who have to work out at BBP will be very happy with this news, even if it means yet more construction disruptions for them.
And yes it will negate some of the traffic growth that was threatening to make Northbourne completely unviable for morning commutes.
But the Flemington/Northbourne problem is the elephant in the corner. Light rail or Monash Drive – it’s as simple as that.
Queen_of_the_Bun said :
Well, they [i]are[/i] building seven bridges.
I believe its a new road because there are too many facilities on majura road, so the locals and their traffic are seperate to those passing through. Makes complete sense to me. If only they didn’t build the jail etc on the Monaro….
I’m still looking for the catch.. I know its in there some where, I just know it is…..
A smart, sensible planning decision for the ACT.
No wonder the Greens were against it.
Four years?!
BicycleCanberra said :
The GDE may well improve North-South traffic if they ever finish it. Not sure what your issue is – Majura road is not currently serviced by ACTION and would be one the ACT’s least safe roads to ride on. Building a major new road would at least open up both possibilities. I cycle to work most days and still want better roads whether I’m using my bike, the bus or my car.
Community campaign ? if you call the labor party a community i guess.
Rollersk8r said :
When are they goign to put the money into the VFT to sydney, upgrade the airport handle 24 hour long haul planes and truely have a city that is not a joke compared to other developed nations.
Well done on getting the funds for the road. Hope also that the illegal bus workshop gets moved in the process.
UseMyMoney said :
Never. Too expensive and too many vested interests in the status quo.
So they are projecting a total cost of $288 million and 4 years to complete.
If the government has the same success with this road as they did with the GDE (i.e. actual costs were 4x the estimate, and the time frame was about 3x longer than planned), then this road should be completed in 2024 at a cost of $1.1 billion.
If you use multiples from the GDE that is, who knows, they might do better.
Cool. Monash Drive definitely not happening, and fewer Gungahlin peasants will be doing the rat-run through four of Ainslie’s streets …
Gungahlin Al said :
I’d forgotten about Snow’s VFT dream… it’s integrated into his master plan and yes, it is meant to come down on the airport’s western boundary. He’s planning some kind of giant airport hotel to mesh with it, too.
It’s just what they’re planning is a brand new giant road, it’ll be over closer to the mountains, and rip up some good farms. There’s already half the road there in the form of the current Majura Rd, it really is a shame they can’t just make it a twin and leave it at that.
UseMyMoney said :
Yes, we need lots of congestion and 24-hour noise to be like proper cities. I can’t wait.
Should be a good outcome (eventually).
Innabanya and Majura Pines are getting the road straight through them, instead of duplication of the existing road. There’s going to be some unhappy Girl Guides (and everyone else they rent the grounds out to) and MTB’ers next year.
Didn’t they just spend something like 12-18 months redoing the existing road 2 or 3 years back? I agree that the road needs upgrading, but why the hell didn’t they commence the upgrade then? Or better yet, duplicate the existing road? That would have at least caused less delays and possibly been cheaper.
BicycleCanberra said :
Strangely enough, when you have an are like Gungahlin that is growing by the day you also get more and more traffic which has to be accommodated somewhere. Are you suggesting we should just forget about Gungahlin and not worry about building any infrastructure for them?
As for the GDE it is (or will be once it is finished) a good road for linking the southern suburbs of Gungahlin to Woden, Weston Creek, Tuggeranong etc. The Majura Parkway however will be good for suburbs north of the town centre to get to the Parl triange, Fyshwick, QBN etc. So Gungahlin needs both, just like all other Canberra ‘towns’ have at least 2 major routes out.
Grrrr said :
There are really old slab huts on that property. They should have a heritage listing slapped on them.
What about hooking the GDE up with the Federal Hwy? It would remove a lot of the congestion around the Barton Hwy/Fed Hwy intersection.
Is there any reason that the GDE hasn’t been finished? nothing ever seems to be happening.
LlamaFrog said :
The reason doesn’t matter. It will never be finished, and like Sisyphus, Canberrans are doomed to fruitlessly and agonisingly crawl their way along it into eternity. Don’t ask why, just merge into the line of traffic, and shuffle along.
Every time I lurch along that godforsaken piece of tar, I’m reminded of one of my favourite pieces of Shakespeare, from Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 5 :
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
I’m pretty sure Shakespeare wasn’t thinking of the GDE when he wrote those fantastic words, but as is so often the case, his words are remarkably applicable to many unforeseen aspects of the human condition, and the general tone of the passage aptly fits my mood whenever I’m on the GDE.
LSWCHP said :
Hahaha! So true!!
I remember when they first started working on it it was so strange. You’d ride your bike up out of the tunnel near the lake, when heading towards Belco and all you could basically see were open fields, with no buldings or other man-made stuff. Then, as you got higher on the path, hundreds of cars just sitting there would appear in your view. It was so surreal! Gridlocked cars in the middle of a field!
But, after a few years of it, that novelty wore off…….
Now I kind of think of it as some sort of ‘Truman show’ style experiment, where ‘they’ see how long they can make people wait in a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure somewhere, someone is writing a PhD about it…..