Road closures: Molonglo Bridge pain to come before gain

Molonglo Valley residents will have to negotiate a two to three-week closure of Coppins Crossing Road at the end of April to allow steel girders to be lifted into place at the Molonglo Bridge construction site.

The closure between Holborow Avenue in Denman Prospect and Hazel Hawke Avenue in Whitlam will mean major traffic disruptions for motorists, including a round trip via William Hovell Drive and the Tuggeranong Parkway for Whitlam and Belconnen residents to get to the other Molonglo suburbs and beyond.

Whitlam parents with students at Evelyn Scott School in Denman Prospect will be burning through the juice and needing to make an early start if recent traffic on William Hovell Drive is anything to go by.

The already slow peak runs in and out of Molonglo through several sets of traffic lights could grind to a halt.

Molonglo residents were already bracing for a three-week closure from 27 April to 17 May after seeing these dates on a government website, discussing it on social media and contacting Region.

Some called for specific measures to manage the expected increased traffic out of Molonglo through the Streeton Drive intersection to the Cotter Road and Parkway.

Others lamented that the work could not be done during the school holidays.

Motorists had a recent taste of what’s to come when Coppins Crossing Road was closed for a day on 22 March.

Infrastructure Canberra also announced a traffic switch on 8 April and two one-day closures on Tuesday, 15 April, and Thursday, 17 April.

On 8 April, north and southbound traffic at the intersection of Sculthorpe Avenue and Coppins Crossing Road will be switched onto a new section of John Gorton Drive to allow construction to continue on the western side of the new Sculthorpe Avenue.

Short traffic delays are expected during the day.

The two one-day closures will occur from 10 am to 3 pm and will enable the safe transfer of the girder transport system across the river from the northern abutment to the southern bridge abutment.

The longer closure, with dates still to be confirmed, will allow the steel girders to be lifted into place safely by a 1600-tonne capacity crane, the largest to ever come to Canberra, with a height of 205 metres – taller than Telstra Tower.

This will only be in place during the northern side girder lifts. The southern side steel girders can be lifted safely without closing Coppins Crossing Road.

If the work cannot be completed in two weeks due to wet weather or other circumstances, the road will remain closed for a third week.

Infrastructure Canberra said that the ACT Government would work to minimise the disruption but urged residents to consider travelling earlier or later to avoid peak times and allow for additional travel time.

All efforts were being made to ensure minimal impact to public transport, but if some detours were required for buses during the closures, more information would be available on the Transport Canberra website closer to the time.

Confusingly, the Infrastructure Canberra release asks motorists to avoid the John Gorton Drive (Cotter Road)-Streeton Drive intersection when it is the only option.

Convenor of the Molonglo Valley Community Forum Ryan Hemsley said the two-week closure would require significantly more traffic management than during the one-day closure earlier in the month.

“The government also needs to be far more proactive in advertising the closure period once the dates are confirmed,” he said. “Molonglo residents deserve sufficient time to plan their lives around what we expect to be a significant increase in morning and afternoon commute times.”

Mr Hemsley said future closures, if required, should also be planned around periods of lower traffic, such as school holidays.

Some residents have suggested to Infrastructure Canberra that traffic police manage the key intersections, giving priority to traffic going up the hill, better synchronisation of the lights, stopping right-hand turns to the service station offer Cotter Road during the morning peak and temporary lane management to give buses a clear run and ease merging pinch points.

The girder work will be a significant milestone for the Molonglo River Bridge project, which will see the construction of a 200-metre-long bridge across the Molonglo Nature Reserve and river, as well as 1.7 kilometres of new arterial roads leading to the bridge and two new intersections.

The new bridge, roads and intersections will provide access to the future Molonglo Town Centre from the suburb of Whitlam and future northern Molonglo Valley suburbs, as well as a safer and more efficient link from Belconnen to Canberra’s southern suburbs.