News - Transport

The roadworks now under way along Piallago Way will do little to relieve the gridlock that Gungahlin commuters face travelling to or past the airport every weekday.

Only the full upgrade of the Majura Road - Monaro Haighway overpass will ease the situation. But the funding is not yet locked in. We've written to our local Federal Government representatives seeking their assistance to bring forward at least part of the funding, so design work can get under way.

We've also discussed with the airport's Tom Snow the contribution made to the problem by the roundabouts in front of Brand Depot. Roundabouts are for balanced flows - traffic lights should be used in this sort of situation...
 

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From: Alan Kerlin - GCC President
To: Senator Lundy, Bob McMullan MP
Date: Sat, Mar 22, 2008
Subject: Majura Road - Piallago overpass funding

Dear Senator Lundy and Mr McMullan,
 
We are sure you are aware the farcical situation that develops on Majura Road every weekday. With morning traffic grinding to a standstill every morning, the road has become known as the Majura Road Parking Lot.
 
This situation has a serious impact on Gungahlin residents trying to get to work, and trying to do the right thing by avoiding the Canberra town centre during their commute. While a large proportion of these commuters travel south of the airport, the previous Federal Government exacerbated the problem by allowing large commercial developments within the airport.

To give you an idea of the seriousness of the problem, Gungahlin Community Council has been successful in negotiating a new ACTION commuter bus service to run from Gungahlin to Brindabella Park, to commence in June. But we have recently been advised that this service cannot now run down Majura Road due to the traffic situation, and must instead skirt the town centre along Limestone Avenue. Even then, the morning service won't be able to run after around 7.30am as timeliness can't be guaranteed! An express service is being forced to rat-run suburban streets because arterial roads are gridlocked??
 
We understand that key works to upgrade the mess at Piallago to create a flyover of the Monaro Highway to Majura Road are still at least a couple of years away.
 
We seek your assistance to bring forward at least a part of the budget for these works such that the project is locked in and design works can get underway.
 
This situation has been created in large part by the decisions of the Australian Government, and it therefore needs urgent action from the government to correct it.
 
Thanking you in anticipation of your assistance, and we would hope to see you again at one of our meetings in the near future.

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Regards,
Alan Kerlin
President
Gungahlin Community Council

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