Gungahlin Drive Extension (GDE) is a freeway grade road, located in the Belconnen district of Canberra, Australia. 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 ...

in the district of

Gungahlin The District of Gungahlin () is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, land administration. The Gungahlin Region is one of fas ...

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-W ...

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 authority of the Australian Capital Territory, one of the territories of Australia. The lea ...

, 23 March 2012; a
archived
on 3 December 2012

Route description

The GDE consists of two roads: the section of

Gungahlin Drive Gungahlin Drive is an arterial road in Canberra, Australia. Its urban portion is long, and serves as one of the major thoroughfares in the Gungahlin district, before becoming a parkway standard roadway south of the Barton Highway. This high ...

located between

and

Belconnen Way Belconnen Way is a major road in Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland ci ...

, 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 f ...

and

Federal Highway Federal Highways and Federal Routes can be found in: *Australia: Federal Highway *Brazil: Brazilian Federal Highway and Brazilian Highway System *Germany: ''Bundesstraßen'' *Malaysia: Federal Highway and Malaysian Federal Roads System *Mexic ...

), 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, 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, construction project, sch ...

and support other transport alternatives, such as light rail 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 ...

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 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 is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''biota''. Zoo ...

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 a ...

/ O'Connor 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 of record 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 indic ...

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 Australia's history."

Bridge collapse

On 14 August 2010, the eastern duplication bridge of the GDE, over the Barton Highway, partially collapsed. The new bridge was under construction when it collapsed. 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 attended the scene and freed one man who was trapped under the rubble. At least 9 people were taken to the

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

for treatment and another 5 were injured however there were no critical injuries, 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. Construction on the second span started afresh at the end of December 2010 with all contractors taking on board the recommendations made by ACT Workcover relating to worker safety and materials to ensure that the collapse of the old span is not repeated.

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 Streets in Canberra Two-lane expressways