28 March 2019

Monaro Highway upgrades to make road safer

| Ian Bushnell
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Roads Minister Chris Steel and MLA for Brindabella Mick Gentleman announced the new work on the Monaro Highway on Wednesday. Photo: Supplied.

A range of work to make the Monaro Highway safer at key intersections and improve traffic flow will get under way soon as part of a $200 million joint Commonwealth-Territory funding package.

Senator for the ACT Zed Seselja and ACT Minister for Roads Chris Steel announced on Wednesday that a tender being released this week for feasibility and preliminary design would investigate intersection upgrades from Johnson Drive in the south through to the access road to the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

This will include the intersections with Lanyon Drive and Isabella Drive and intersections with Mugga Lane, Tralee Street and Sheppard Street into Hume.

Further south, detailed design work will also start in coming weeks for an overtaking lane and median barrier treatments between Royalla Drive and Williamsdale Road, focusing on the best options for a northbound overtaking lane about one kilometre in length as well as various treatments that could be used to further separate north and southbound traffic.

It is anticipated that construction on the overtaking lane and median improvements between Royalla Drive and Williamsdale Road will commence in the 2019-20 financial year.

Mr Steel said the Monaro Highway was an important recreational and freight route between the ACT and NSW and these upgrades would significantly improve safety on the stretch of the Monaro south of Canberra and decrease travel times during the busy ski season.

“The aim of the Monaro Highway upgrades will be to safely achieve a consistent speed limit of 100km per hour from Johnson Drive to Hindmarsh Drive, to keep Canberrans moving,” he said.

“The designs will look at providing a faster and safer commute for motorists on the Monaro by removing traffic lights, roundabouts and other intersections and replacing them with grade separated interchanges.”

Senator Seselja, said he was delighted to see the upgrades moving forward, after campaigning for funding to fix congestion and safety issues on the Monaro since 2016.

“In 2016, I committed $1 million to a scoping study into easing congestion for Canberrans on the Monaro and was thrilled to be able to deliver $100 million last year to carry out the recommendations of the study, a commitment I’m pleased has been matched by the ACT Government,” Senator Seselja said.

“The Commonwealth investment in the Monaro Highway Upgrade Package delivers important infrastructure funding to ensure Canberrans, and many residents over the border in NSW, are able to effectively commute to and from the south of the ACT.”

In addition to the Monaro Highway works, preliminary designs will also be prepared in coming weeks for the duplication of Pialligo Avenue between the Canberra Airport and NSW border including improvements to the intersection with Beltana Road.

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