Gungahlin Drive Extension (GDE) is a motorway grade road, located in the Belconnen district of

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is 8.3 kilometres long and extended the previously existing Gungahlin Drive from the

Barton Highway Barton Highway is a highway in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. It connects Canberra to Hume Highway at Yass, and it is part of the route from Melbourne to Canberra. It is named in honour of Sir Edmund Barton, the first Pr ...

in the district of

Gungahlin Gungahlin () is a Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, district in the Australian Capital Territory, one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. The district is subdivided into suburbs, sections and blo ...

to the Glenloch Interchange to connect with the

Tuggeranong Parkway Tuggeranong Parkway is an major highway in Canberra, Australia. Often referred to as "The Parkway" by locals, Tuggeranong Parkway links Civic to the southern Canberra metro district of Tuggeranong, and is a bypass road to the Woden Valley- Wes ...

Parkes Way Parkes Way is a major road in Canberra, Australia, which runs east-west between Kings Avenue and the Glenloch Interchange. At Glenloch Interchange it intersects with William Hovell Drive, Tuggeranong Parkway, and Caswell Drive ( Gungahlin Dri ...

, and William Hovell Drive. Early in the planning stages, the GDE was to instead be designated the ''John Dedman Parkway''.Gungahlin Drive Extension Stage 2 - Home

ACT Government The Government of the Australian Capital Territory, also referred to as the Australian Capital Territory Government or ACT Government, is the executive branch of the Australian Capital Territory. The leader of the party or coalition with the Con ...

, 23 March 2012; a
archived
on 3 December 2012

Route description

The GDE consists of two roads: the section of Gungahlin Drive located between

and

Belconnen Way Belconnen Way is a major road in Canberra, Australia. It connects William Hovell Drive and Kingsford Smith Drive in the west to Barry Drive and Fairfax Street, providing access to Civic and the Inner North via Belconnen Town Centre Belco ...

, and Caswell Drive, located between Belconnen Way and the Glenloch Interchange. Caswell Drive was pre-existing but duplicated and upgraded as part of the works. The extension was originally opened with a speed limit of , but after review was increased to

History

The Gungahlin Drive Extension project had its genesis in planning that emphasised the motor car as the primary means of travel in Canberra. This philosophy is shown in planning studies dating from the 1960s. In 1991, the ACT Liberal Government began consultations for a John Dedman Parkway project, which would have gone from the Barton Highway to Belconnen Way. This project was subsequently renamed the Gungahlin Drive Extension, with the road proceeding to the Glenloch Interchange. This Gungahlin Drive Extension route and the Majura Road upgrading (between the

Monaro Highway Monaro Highway is a highway in Victoria, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory, in Australia, linking in Victoria to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) via the Monaro region. From its southern terminus, it fo ...

and Federal Highway), are two transport routes that are on the drawing board as north-south routes. Some consider the GDE route as a crucial link in Canberra's transport network while others consider it a

white elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, ...

and support other transport alternatives, such as

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

between Gungahlin and Civic. The ACT Labor Government won election in 2001 promising a GDE alignment that would travel west of the Australian Institute of Sport AIS. However, the Commonwealth Government's

National Capital Authority The National Capital Authority (NCA) is a statutory authority of the Australian Government that was established to manage the Commonwealth's interest in the planning and development of Canberra as the capital city of Australia. Timeline of th ...

decided in December 2002 to support an alignment east of the AIS as the preferred route. On 16 January 2003 the ACT Government fell in with the NCA and decided to investigate options for an Eastern Alignment for GDE in the vicinity of the AIS, as well as reviewing options for the alignment in the

Aranda Aranda may refer to: Places * Aranda, Village in Goh Block, Aurangabad, Bihar * Aranda, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in Canberra, Australia, named after the Arrernte or Aranda Indigenous people * Aranda (comarca), a ''comarca'' (county) ...

Precinct. Supporters of natural parkland campaigned to have the road building stopped, staging a number of demonstrations. However the ACT Government determined that the road be built, and subsequently changed the law to prevent further opposition from community groups. When the GDE was completed it was controversial as the road was originally built to a 2-lane standard rather than four; leaving southbound and northbound commuters with lengthy delays each morning and afternoon. Work commenced in October 2009 to widen the 2 lane sections to 4 lanes as originally planned. The area near the south bound lanes leading into the Glenloch interchange was the first area to be widened as this area bears the heaviest traffic load during peak times. The road has now been completed to a 4 lane freeway standard.

Protests

When the Gungahlin Drive Extension plans were made public, there were protests by various groups in order to stop or delay work on the road. The main protests came from a group called "Save The Ridge". This group were angry about the destruction of the

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

that would occur with the GDE running through the

Bruce The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

O'Connor O'Connor or O'Conor may refer to: People * O'Connor or O'Conor, an Irish clan * O'Connor Sligo, a royal dynasty ruling the northern part of the Kingdom of Connacht * O'Connor (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places * Burdett ...

Ridge. Meanwhile, another group called GDE Now! was formed, with a slogan 'Pave the Ridge'. In 2004 Save The Ridge had a legal victory with the ACT Government in relation to local planning laws. The ACT Government then passed a new law with the purpose of overriding further legal challenges at the local level. In 2005 Save The Ridge took the

and the

to the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

in a further effort to have the project shut down. In September 2005 the Federal Court ruled in favour of the NCA and the ACT Government, giving the go-ahead for the project to resume. On 10 December 2006, during Stage 1 of the GDE opening, Save The Ridge again protested against the road, and called for an immediate halt to the rest of the construction taking place. They called the GDE "one of the most expensive non tunnelled single lane roads per kilometre in

's history."

Bridge collapse

On 14 August 2010, the eastern duplication bridge of the GDE, over the Barton Highway, partially collapsed while under construction. ACT Police,

ACT Ambulance Service The Australian Capital Territory Ambulance Service (ACTAS) is responsible for providing emergency and non-emergency ambulance services to the ACT community. Although existing since 1955 it was established in legislation by the ''Emergencies Ac ...

and the

ACT Fire Brigade The ACT Fire and Rescue previously known as ACT Fire Brigade. Is the urban Fire and Rescue service for the Australian Capital Territory. It along with the ACT Ambulance Service, ACT State Emergency Service and ACT Rural Fire Service are part of ...

attended the scene and freed one man who was trapped under the rubble. At least nine people were taken to the

Canberra Hospital Canberra Hospital is a public hospital located in Garran, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. It is the largest district general hospital in the region with 672 beds catering to a population of about 550,000. It was formed when the Woden V ...

for treatment and another five were injured, but none were critical. All those affected were working on a new span of the bridge. The

and northern GDE were closed for several hours as investigations commenced. The Barton Highway was reopened on 9 September 2010 after investigations and removal of the collapsed bridge. Reconstruction of the second span started at the end of December 2010 with all contractors taking note of the recommendations made by ACT Workcover relating to worker safety and the use of materials.

Interchanges

The GDE has multiple interchanges along its length providing access to suburbs and facilities in the Gungahlin and Belconnen districts as well as the Inner North, there are links to several arterial roads.ACTMAPi
,

, accessed 18 April 2013

References

External links

Video of the extension (Barton Hwy to Belconnen Way)

Save The Ridge

Work on GDE can restart:ruling
* {{Road infrastructure in Canberra Australian freeways Streets in Canberra Two-lane expressways