Traffic concerns for Molonglo joint emergency services station

Plans have been lodged for the new joint emergency services station to serve the fast-growing Molonglo Valley, which is expected to be up and running in the 2025/26 financial year.

To be built on the corner of John Gorton Drive and Cotter Road, technically in Duffy but adjacent to the new suburbs of Wright and Coombs, the station will be a single-storey building covering 3402 sqm with 40 on-site car parking spaces and 34 operational spaces.

It will be home to ACT Ambulance Service and ACT Fire and Rescue staff and vehicles and operate round the clock.

The DA says the design responds to the residential nature of the surrounding area and provides resilience in the face of bushfires.

The building will front Cotter Road, from which three new verge crossings are proposed.

One verge crossing to the east is for staff and visitor access and will be used as the main thoroughfare and the other two are linked to the station’s appliance bays to support the dispatching of fire appliances and ambulances.

A row of trees will screen the building from nearby homes.

The project will also have to incorporate the Centenary Trail, which runs along the front northern boundary. Refuges along the trail will provide a safe place to stop when an appliance is leaving the station.

But the DA’s traffic report recommends that all staff be told to be aware of pedestrians and cyclists when entering or exiting the station, signs be placed on the Centenary Trail warning pedestrians and cyclists to watch out for vehicles exiting the site, and adequate lighting be provided to illuminate the trail at night.

All vehicles will enter the site via the return driveway, to the east of the dispatch driveways, and access to the station will be controlled by a boom gate.

A dedicated left turn lane will be provided on Cotter Drive into the project site.

Visitors will park in a designated parking area to the north of the boom gates, with six spaces, including one accessible, provided.

Eighteen parking spaces will be provided for ACT Ambulance Service staff and 16 for ACT Fire and Rescue staff. A separate enclosed parking area with four spaces will be provided for four senior staff members.

The DA’s traffic report says excessive queuing and congestion at the intersection of John Gorton Drive/Cotter Road/Harold White Avenue could impact the project due to the close proximity of the intersection to the expected access and egress points.

It says the Traffic Assessment report recommended upgrades to the intersection to increase capacity and reduce queues on Cotter Road.

Traffic signals on Cotter Road could also be installed close to the proposed dispatch driveways and integrated with the roller doors, so they operate with a green phase for through traffic but change to red when an emergency vehicle is leaving. as is the case at the Belconnen Ambulance and Fire Station.

The project requires a change to the Territory Plan through DV386.

Submissions to the consultation on DV386 comment on the loss of a green and bushfire buffer, the impact on walking and cycling paths, proximity to housing, noise and impact on a creek, as well as saying it should be in Molonglo not Weston Creek.

But then Planning and Land Management Minister Mick Gentleman said the advice from emergency services had been that the Duffy site would provide easy access to both Weston Creek and Molonglo from a major arterial road.

The project will cost more than $21 million to build but $66 million has been budgeted for the facility, so it can expand to support emergency response times, address accommodation needs and meet the growth of the Molonglo Valley and surrounding districts.

Comment on the DA is open until 30 January.