It’s one of Canberra’s most important pieces of infrastructure, connecting the capital’s north and south.<\/p>\n
Thousands drive, cycle and walk across Commonwealth Avenue Bridge every day, but major work addressing its structural safety will soon get underway, starting two years of significant traffic disruption.<\/p>\n
The bridge has not undergone any significant upgrades since it opened to traffic in 1963, but work to strengthen it is now required.<\/p>\n
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The Commonwealth Avenue Bridge was opened more than six decades ago. (Richard Clough, National Library of Australia.)<\/p>\n
“These works are to ensure that it remains a useful asset that reflects the growth of Canberra and the needs of community,” National Capital Authority (NCA) chief executive Karen Doran said.<\/p>\n
“This work will safeguard it for the next 60 years for the Canberra community.<\/p>\n
“It will cause some disruption, but it’s essential works that need to be done.”<\/p>\n
While the $137.5 million project focuses on strengthening the bridge, the shared pathways will also be widened, new lighting will be installed and safety barriers will be replaced.<\/p>\n
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Karen Doran says the strengthening will safeguard Commonwealth Avenue Bridge for the next 60 years. (ABC News: Harry Frost)<\/p>\n
Work will be completed in two stages: first the western span of the bridge, impacting the northbound lanes, followed by the eastern span, impacting southbound lanes.<\/p>\n
It means only one side of the bridge will be open at a time, seeing its six lanes shrink to three to accommodate traffic, pedestrians and cyclists travelling in both directions.<\/p>\n
Construction is anticipated to begin later this year, with each stage to take around 12 months to complete.<\/p>\n
“I acknowledge that is a long time and we will have issues of disruption for the community which we’re looking to manage,” Ms Doran said.What will the impact on public transport be?<\/p>\n
Chris Steel says there will be a temporary reduction in the frequency of weekday bus services. (Facebook: Chris Steel MLA)<\/p>\n
Almost 1,400 Transport Canberra bus services cross the bridge every day during the week.<\/p>\n
Transport Minister Chris Steel says the works will have a cascading and unavoidable impact across the entire bus network and there will be a direct impact on the frequency of bus services.<\/p>\n
“All of those buses \u2014 including general traffic \u2014 will now be squeezing into half the road space once bridge works commence,” Mr Steel said.<\/p>\n
“To deliver a reliable bus service that takes into account the impact of the NCA’s bridge works, this unfortunately means the frequency of bus services on weekdays will need to be reduced temporarily during construction.<\/p>\n
“There will be a range of mitigations that we can put in place, but we can’t fully mitigate the impacts of this.”<\/p>\n
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The works will see shared pathways widened, new lighting installed, and safety barriers replaced. (ABC News: Joel Wilson)<\/p>\n
The exact number of bus services that will be impacted is not yet clear, but Mr Steel said the ACT government was working closely with the NCA.<\/p>\n
The NCA has been undertaking a traffic management assessment and once that’s finalised, it will provide a clearer idea on the impact on travel times and will allow the government to release a new bus timetable.<\/p>\n
Options to prioritise public transport are being considered by the NCA, but no decisions have been made yet about what that will look like.<\/p>\n
“We have been considering options around having dedicated lanes for buses and how we run the three available lanes to traffic to reflect the peak flows,” Ms Doran said.<\/p>\n
“As soon as we know the option we are going to be pursuing, we are going to be communicating that with the public.”<\/p>\n
Are the works connected to light rail?<\/p>\n
Light rail Stage 2B will see a new bridge built between the two spans of Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. (Supplied: ACT government)<\/p>\n
The works aren’t connected with the plan to extend light rail across Lake Burley Griffin.<\/p>\n