FROM mid-August, northbound traffic on Commonwealth Avenue will be diverted to a temporary road to its west as London Circuit is raised six metres to accommodate light rail.
Traffic heading south, away from Civic, will be diverted to the current northbound Commonwealth Avenue bridge over London Circuit.
I’m an engineer myself, so I’m sure the traffic guys have done the numbers a hundred times, but it seems fucking insane to me to signalise that intersection.
The amount of traffic that currently flows north from there uninterrupted is insane.
The only rationale that makes sense to me is that the northbourne lights are just around the corner so 🤷♂️
Yes, on the face of it converting a grade separated intersection into an at grade intersection is a bit bonkers.
What I think it comes down to is a combination of a few things, such as:
The tram needing to go through that area, requiring major works to happen in some way, shape or form.
Removal of the cloverleaf on that side freeing up a inner city block of considerable size for potential development.
An at grade intersection and general flattening making that area more walkable (particularly with a tram station just south of London Cct). City HIll could certainly do with some better access, the roads basically make it an island in the centre of the city.
I suspect decreases in traffic speeds and throughput in that area would be considered something of a feature instead of a bug from the perspective of the ACT gov, they’d likely prefer people didn’t drive through the city.
Yep, agree with all your points. My original post was merely a gut reaction, access to capital hill and more space for development are big pluses I hadn’t even considered.