We recently ran a poll through our Facebook page to determine which road the Gungahlin community saw as a priority to duplicate. As a community must acknowledge the Government only has a certain amount of money each financial year and we as the community must send a clear message where we want the money spent.
The ACT Government has made millions of dollars in Gungahlin through land sales, it is time some of that money is invested back into Gungahlin to make up for some of the poor planning and infrastructure we have now. There are many more suburbs planned in Gungahlin and we must fix these major arterial roads before these suburbs are populated adding more strain to these roads.
In the poll we asked if the community would prefer to see Gungahlin drive duplicated from Horse Park Drive to Gundaroo Drive, Horse Park Drive from the Federal Highway to Gundaroo Drive, Gundaroo Drive from Mirrrabei Drive to Barton Highway or William Slim from Barton Highway to Ginninderra Drive.
Throughout he poll the lead did switch several times between the second and third option as the preferred road to be duplicated as a priority and was very close throughout the poll. The winner did end up being Horse Park Drive from Federal Highway to Gundaroo Drive with 44.3% of the votes.
I was very eager to see how this lined up with the survey conducted recently by the Gungahlin Community Council. Their survey showed the majority of the support was the duplication of Gundaroo Drive.
I provided our data to Mr Tony Gill from Roads ACT and asked what design work has been undertaken for both Gundaroo Drive and Horse Park Drive. He did advise design works have been completed for Gundaroo Drive from Mirrabei Drive to Barton Highway. Some design work has been undertaken by the Land Development Agency on Horse Park Drive associated with the development of Throsby. A proposal is being considered for the next budget to complete the design of Horse Park Drive from Wells Station Drive to the Federal Highway.
Based on the survey results conducted by the Gungahlin Community Council and us and the fact the design work has been completed for the duplication of Gundaroo Drive the Gungahlin community must send a clear message to the ACT Government this duplication must be funded in the 2015/2016 financial year. We must also be clear we expect funding to be provided for the design work of Horse Park Drive from the Federal Highway to Gundaroo Drive, not just to Wells Station Drive.
I did ask MLA Mick Gentleman (Minister for Roads and Planning) for a response to the email sent to Mr Tony Gill as well on our survey results however a response was not provided.
I had spoken to MLA Meegan Fitzharris after the recent Gungahlin Community Council about our poll and our view on this. Ms Fitzharris did advise she would hold a petition on the matter to help get the message to the ACT Government. This petition is now available through her website here: Duplicate Gundaroo Drive
Loading ...
