Commonwealth Avenue Bridge today. Photo: NCA.
Canberrans will face two years of disruptions to the bus network and traffic across the city’s main cross-lake link from late this year when works to strengthen the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and widen its shared paths get underway.
The National Capital Authority posted a notification on its website on 26 August about the $137.5 million project, which will necessitate one span of the bridge being closed at a time.
But it has been left to ACT Transport Minister Chris Steel to fully alert the public to the coming disruptions and elaborate on the span closures, which will have significant ramifications for the operation of the entire bus network, including cuts to weekday services.
The public transport lobby blasted the NCA for keeping Canberra commuters in the dark about the impacts of the bridge project on the traffic and bus network.
Mr Steel told the Legislative Assembly late on Thursday that each span of the bridge will be closed for a year at a time, with all traffic having to fit into no more than three lanes.
“The ACT Government is continuing to work closely with the National Capital Authority to try to minimise impacts; however, much of this is outside of the Territory’s control,” Mr Steel said.
The bridge works come as major construction projects in the city gather pace, including light rail stage 2A to Commonwealth Park.
Mr Steel said the bridge works would have a cascading and unavoidable impact across the entire bus network, particularly the ability to maintain current service frequencies.
He said a new network with fewer weekday services would start from Term 1 next year, after the quiet holiday period.
He said all of the ACT’s Rapid bus routes, and all but three local route services that connect Canberra’s south to the north, use Commonwealth Avenue Bridge.
“Some 1380 Transport Canberra bus services cross the bridge every day during the week,” Mr Steel said.
“All of those buses – including general traffic – will now be squeezing into half the road space once bridge works commence.”
The congestion and buses stuck in traffic would reduce the number and frequency of buses being able to pass over the bridge every hour and also impact subsequent services.
Mr Steel said the government’s priority would be ensuring that services that could be delivered were reliable and that a timetabled bus showed up.
He said Transport Canberra had been working with the NCA on how the traffic network would be affected, and journey times increased for affected bus routes.
“We are pursuing all options with the NCA and have requested they prioritise public transport through the development of their temporary traffic arrangements, and Transport Canberra is exploring timetabling options and alternative routes to mitigate the impacts as much as possible,” he said.
PTCBR chair Amy Jelacic said her organisation was not informed or consulted about this change to bus operations and was urgently seeking more information.
“It is a disturbing announcement. We are disappointed to have been left in the dark,” she said.
Ms Jelacic said public communication from the NCA about the bridge strengthening project had been extremely poor, with very little practical information provided to the Canberra community.
“The NCA does not seem to feel any responsibility towards the city of Canberra despite the enormous influence it has on the functioning of the city,” she said.
PTCBR is seeking a briefing from the government and urges it to find ways to minimise impacts on public transport users.
“Public transport is the only transport option that can adequately meet the challenge presented by the bridge lane closures,” she said.
“The ACT Government must recognise this and act accordingly.”
The NCA said on its website that the first works on site would be the construction of temporary crossovers in the median to the north and south of the bridge to facilitate the closure of each bridge span.
This will include the removal of the two sets of flag poles along Commonwealth Avenue.
The project is essential to extending the long-term future of the 60-year-old bridge.
The NCA said further updates would be forthcoming, or visit the project page.
Further comment was sought from the NCA.
