City in Motion: Construction Updates for Cyclists
14 March 2025
A site engineer told me just how much there is to getting the builing site ready for rails to be installed. Absolutely everything underground must be in good shape; pipes, cables, sewers and access cannot be accessed again once the light rail is in place.
Thank you to the engineers. Last week a fence had been nudged into the bike lane, reducing the bike-riding width a bit. Everything had been straightened up again within a day. There still is not a lot of bike width, but the space is more even and less challenging.
North-south transit by road is open both ways. You can ride between Northbourne Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue Bridge.
However, there are signs saying ‘Commonwealth Bridge closed 15/03/25 for a ‘Special event’. That’s for Skyfire; the bridge will be closed in both directions from 8.25 pm for at least a couple of hours. There are many road closures so it’s a good idea to go by bike and use the paths and footbridges instead!
Otherwise,
Southbound, the south end of the bike path where you cross the slip road [MIW2] has changed shape. There is less room to stop and wait for slip road traffic to pass you before crossing the lane. Make sure you stop in good time and the front end of your bike doesn’t poke out into the passing traffic on the slip lane.
Northbound. I have normally stayed on the west side of the bridge when riding up into the City. However, I timed my ride from the bridge on both sides of the roadworks up to a favoured cafe in City Walk. I found it quicker (as well as more pleasant) to cross to the east side of Commonwealth Avenue here and follow the Pedestrian signs, over the footbridge and up to Allara Street. I’ll only use the western route now if I intend to go to the west of the City.
What’s happening soon?
By the time this is published, London Circuit east will be closed between Northbourne Avenue and Theatre Lane.
How to get past the closure? We think it will be easier to ride up to City Walk via Petrie Plaza (on the west side), or via Ainslie Place. The footpath on the outside of London Circuit is nice and wide in this locality for getting around. There are many options for making a route through from there, however Garema Place is chock-full of fences and road works. If you plan to cross Garema Place to get to Lonsdale Street, the direct route will be tighter and slower than any of the other route at the moment.
Also, the centre median strip and the right hand lane in both directions will be fenced off between London Circuit and Alinga Street for the space to be cleared in preparation for laying rail. We think you will still be able to ride across Northbourne Avenue at Alinga Street and at London Circuit – for the moment – but at some stage the junctions will need to be closed as rails are laid into them. We will keep you posted when we find out about further closures.
Tuggeranong Residents seem delighted that the public art that was in this median strip has now been moved to Lake Tuggeranong foreshore.
Can you help? Road and route closures and traffic congestion will change often. If you see anything that you think should be mentioned here, please call or email Pedal Power (communications@pedalpower.org.au) and help us to keep this regular bulletin up to date. Thank you!
