Major traffic disruptions expected in Canberra amid work to raise London Circuit
Major traffic detours will be in place around Canberra this weekend as Commonwealth Avenue is closed as part of work to raise London Circuit for light rail.
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00:00The Cloverleaf Road is almost gone, and London's circuit has been lifted, but work is far from
00:08finished.
00:09There's some major storm water works that need to happen under the road, some curb works,
00:13some pavement works, and we've opted to close the road so that we can do that safely for
00:18our workers.
00:19From 8pm tonight through to 6am on Monday, Commonwealth Avenue will be closed northbound
00:25except for buses and local traffic between State Circle and Parkes Way, and there'll
00:30be a complete closure between Parkes Way and Vernon Circle.
00:34Drivers looking to cross the lake from the south are being urged to plan to use Kings
00:39Avenue instead.
00:40We're diverting traffic at Parliament House, so what that will do will allow people the
00:45option to have different routes into the city from the south.
00:49Our data shows us that on the weekend we have about a thousand vehicles an hour around lunchtime
00:55on that section of road, so if we were to simply divert them onto Parkes Way, we would
01:00have major congestion.
01:02Nearly two years on from the start of construction, the government expects passengers will be
01:07able to board light rail to Commonwealth Park in 2028, but there's still mixed opinions
01:13on the project.
01:14It's taking too long, and they're only building 1.7km of tram line, and it's obviously costing
01:22a bomb.
01:23They're interrupting a lot of my clients, you know, they find it quite difficult to
01:27come here because the roads are changed and everything like that, and a lot of them are
01:31probably getting on for my age, so they find it more difficult.
01:36Life goes on.
01:37They're building it for light rail, what do you think of that?
01:39Yeah, probably pretty good.
01:40Like I mean, northbound, like northside light rail is pretty successful, hopefully southside's
01:46exactly the same.
01:48Wet weather could still see some work postponed, while diversions will become more common as
01:53construction continues.