First tracks by end of year, plans in place to ease light rail pain for businesses

Prepare for three years of disruption in City West, but the pain will be worth it.

That’s the message from Infrastructure Canberra boss Gillian Geraghty, who is excited that construction of the next stage of light rail will finally start next month, with the first tracks to be laid at the end of 2025.

“We’re looking to just get on with things,” she said, standing by London Circuit, which will be closed off between Northbourne Avenue and Edinburgh Avenue to general traffic until late 2027.

For the newly formed Infrastructure Canberra, this also includes awarding contracts for the construction of the Northside Hospital at Bruce and the Canberra Theatre project, which is located near the light rail site.

Ms Geraghty said light rail would transform the western side of the city for the better.

“We’ve seen what happened on Stage One,” referring to the development that has sprung up along the route.

Already, Capital Property Group has big multi-building precincts planned – on the law courts car park and the block across from the QT Hotel – that will inject more workers and residents into the CBD and extend it south towards Lake Burley Griffin.

It will mean years of works along London Circuit West, something businesses have been bracing for.

Stage 1 resulted in a loss of parking, access and trade for businesses. Ms Geraghty said lessons from that experience, as well as from the light rail project in Newcastle, had been learned.

“We’ve been working really closely with the businesses for the last 12 or 13 months,” she said.

“We have business partnership plans with each of them and are really trying to help them understand how we’re going to support them.

“We’re also working with the City Renewal Authority to think about how to activate spaces as construction drags on and make sure that we keep this part of our city alive and well, and really feeling like people want to come here.

“It’s all about engaging businesses early, working with them, having really good transparent, clear communication with them and making sure that we’re here to support them.”

Ms Geraghty said the increase in construction traffic and crews would create new opportunities for some businesses.

While London Circuit West will be closed, pedestrian and bike paths will stay open, alternative routes will be advised, and access will continue for deliveries.

Vehicles would still be able to access the Northbourne corner car park, law courts and the City Police Station from West Row. The area would also be lit more at night to ensure the safety of cyclists and pedestrians.

Ms Geraghty said Marcus Clarke Street would also provide good access to the city for vehicles.

Parking will become scarcer with the loss of street spaces and the first row of the law courts car park, which later in the year is expected to be a construction site for Capital Property Group’s office precinct.

Those parking spaces will be renewed in the new precinct’s basement, but motorists will face challenges in the interim.

Ms Geraghty said that from 5 February, the public would see fences go up, street furniture removed and underground utilities moved.

She said that in a few months, the major intersection of Northbourne Avenue and London Circuit will be closed so that a large stormwater drain can be relocated.

She urged people to refer to Infrastructure Canberra’s travel impacts site for maps, closures and diversions so they can plan ahead. The site also shows available parking across the CBD.

The levelling of London Circuit and Commonwealth Avenue to enable the light rail project was in its final phase and Ms Geraghty said London Circuit East was expected to reopen in May.

“It’s been an extensive civil engineering project and it’s really had minimal disruption to the city,” she said.

“We’re really proud of how that’s been delivered with minimal safety impacts.”