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Revision as of 07:42, 13 April 2013 by Nbound (talk | contribs) (Partial re-do WIP)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Majura Parkway Australian Capital Territory | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Freeway |
| Length | 11.5 km (7.1 mi) |
| Opened | 2016 (Expected) |
| Location(s) | |
| Region | Majura Valley |
| Highway system | |
The Majura Parkway will be a 11.5km north-south freeway grade roadway in the Majura Valley, one of three parkways in the Australian Capital Territory, linking at its northern end to the Federal Highway (to Sydney, New South Wales) at Horse Park Drive, Gungahlin, and at its southern end to the Monaro Highway (to Cooma at Pialligo). It is intended to ease traffic along Northbourne Avenue, the main thoroughfare into Canberra from the north.
Its planning was conducted between 2005 and 2012, construction work commenced in early 2013 and will be completed in 2016. The stated cost is A$288 million, mostly funded by the Government of the Australian Capital Territory with some funds from the Australian Government.
History
Majura Parkway planning began with the Tommorrow's Canberra (1970) NCDC report which identified the Majura Valley corridor as a component of Canberra's peripheral road system. Later NCDC/NCA planning studies including Metropolitan Canberra (1984) and the Canberra Spatial Plan (2004) further identified the need for a primary road link in the area. This was also backed up by the Gungahlin External Travel Study Information Report (1989) identifying 4 main access roads needed for residents of the Gungahlin District.
From the SMEC Concept Evaluation Report (2006), Roads ACT identified two preferred alignments, which were known the western and the eastern alignments. The eastern alignment was later scrapped because of environmental, heritage and social issues along that corridor, leaving the western alignment as the only preferred alignment. The scrapped eastern alignment would have also included a link to a future urban area in the Kowen District.
Prepatory roadworks on nearby roads began in 2008, with the main project beginning in September 2012 when Fulton Hogan was awarded the contract to build. Major construction then began in January 2013.
Siting
The Majura Parkway will run north-south along the western side of the Majura Valley between Mount Majura and Woolshed Creek to the west of the Canberra International Airport. It will largely replace Majura Road, although that road will remain to serve local traffic to various rural properties and the airport business park.
Resumption of land for the roadway mostly involves ACT rural farms, although the Royal Military College, Duntroon will lose some parts of its playing fields but the historic Oval No1 is preserved. A farmhouse at the corner of Fairbairn Avenue and Monaro Highway will be relocated.
Design
The parkway will be dual carriageway with each traffic lane 3.5 metres wide with a 2.5 metre wide roadside (right) shoulder and a one metre offside (left) shoulder.
The design was made by SMEC, an engineering services company with roots in the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Authority that built the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Construction is contracted to Fulton Hogan, a private construction company with historical roots in New Zealand.
The current Majura Road will become a local road, and provide access to the airport's Majura Business Park.
Interchange intersections and bridges
A new interchange intersection will be built at Fairbairn Avenue. The motorway will link at its northern end to the existing Horse Park Road/Federal Highway interchange.
There will be a major bridge over the Molonglo River at Morshead Drive to link to the Monaro Highway. Several smaller road bridges will allow access for pastoralists to the disconnected parts of their properties, and to the Australian Federal Police training centre to the east of the parkway.
Associated structures
Solar power farm
A 4 MW (megawatt) solar power farm is to be established in the Majura Valley on 13 hectares (32 acres) of land made an island by the new Majura Parkway. It is on land leased by Majura Vineyard, but is too frosty to be productive for vines. The land is also earmarked for possible later use by a high speed train track, in which case the developers will remove the affected part of the solar farm. Photovoltaic modules will be laid out in arrays in 100kW sections, each array comprising 380 modules. Altogether, there will be more than 19,000 modules. Plantings of trees and shrubs will lessen the distraction to drivers on the Parkway.
Historical notes
The Majura Valley was used by the Ngunnawal people (Australian Aboriginals) before settlement by Britons in the mid-1820s and 1830s. Settlements were scarce, and recent surveys show that this was likely a transitory camping area during nomadic journeys between Lake George and the upper Yass River catchments (see links).
A Scotsman, Robert Campbell (1769-1846) settled the area, having been granted land in 1925. His compensation grant was 4,000 acres (16 km2) of land and 710 sheep, after Campbell's ship the "Sydney" was lost off the coast of India while chartered to the New South Wales government. In 1825 James Ainslie established a sheep station for Campbell in the area where Canberra is now situated. Robert named the property Duntroon after his ancestral Duntrune Castle at Argyll and Bute, Scotland. He was assigned convict labourers, but also sought to bring free settlers as farm workers. These people were settled on small holdings of around 2 acres. Such a holding appears to be "Majura House" which is reputed to have been built for Alfred Mayo and his family between 1846 and 1860, the house remaining in family ownership until 1981. By the mid-1850s there were approximately 50 people residing in the Majura Valley (see links).
Following land reforms in 1861, other families sought free selection of Crown Land in the Majura Valley in the 1860s and by the late 1800s had established what was a proto-village with school, community hall and Post Office, near the "Avonley" property. By 1891 there were 83 dwellings, housing 393 people within the Majura Valley. A major land holder was the Harman family.
Creation of the Federal Capital Territory in 1912 ended freehold title, with the land becoming Commonwealth lands that were then leased to former occupiers.
See also
External links
- Majura Parkway - ACT Government official website
- Environmental Impact Statement - Executive Summary
- EPBC Referral Majura Parkway to DEWHA Rev1 (pdf) - Environmental Plan (per Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999)
- Majura Heritage Assessment Report January 2006 (pdf)
References
- Work begins on Majura Parkway, ABC News Online, 15 January 2013
- ^ Majura Parkway - Planning History, ACT Government, 10 April 2012
- Majura Parkway - Associated road works, ACT Government, 10 April 2012
- Majura Parkway - Early works construction update, ACT Government, 24 December 2012
- Majura Parkway to flank solar fields, John Thistleton, The Canberra Times, 18 March 2013
 Road infrastructure in Canberra | ||
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Partially limited-access Partially controlled-access roadway under construction | ||