Page 1670 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 June 2021
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Last month, I hosted a public transport recovery forum and I spoke about that topic in the Assembly during the last sitting. Residents of the Molonglo Valley know the importance of returning to their public transport habits as soon as possible, and the government will continue to support them to do this.
Encouraging the use of active travel is another important pillar of our investments in the Molonglo Valley. As identified in the ACT transport strategy 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was great for getting Canberrans walking and cycling, with a sharp increase in the number of people choosing active travel to commute around the city. The ACT government has been supporting this by fast-tracking footpath and cycle path network upgrades since the beginning of last year.
Active travel will play a key role for the residents of Molonglo. Our planning and community consultation processes have identified the key walking and cycling connections needed to serve the Molonglo Valley and to connect residents to the wider active travel network. Key active travel connections for the Molonglo Valley include links to the city, Woden, Weston Creek and Belconnen, as well as to Lake Burley Griffin, the Arboretum and Stromlo Forest Park. These links will be delivered in stages through a coordinated program of suburban development, major road projects and dedicated active travel works.
New shared paths will be delivered as part of major road projects, including the John Gorton Drive bridge and the William Hovell Drive duplication. The future Molonglo east-west arterial project would also include a city to Molonglo cycle route, providing a direct cycle route to the city. The Suburban Land Agency is also completing the Molonglo River trail. A new bridge at north Weston near Klos Crossing will connect to Harold White Avenue in Coombs to the Molonglo River trail and make it easier and more convenient for people to enjoy the river corridor and reach both the lake and the city.
We are working to deliver a transport network that gives people in the Molonglo Valley and across Canberra a genuine choice and flexibility about how they move around. That means well-thought-out strategic transport corridors which can connect our growing communities and town centres by car and public transport alongside well-integrated, safe and convenient active travel infrastructure.
The government continues to invest in connecting the Molonglo region with the benefit of past and current transport and land use planning. Those strategies include the planning strategy, the transport strategy, the infrastructure plan, the Molonglo Valley staging plan, the transport for Canberra plan 2012-31, planning design frameworks for Molonglo stages 1, 2 and 3, the Coombs and Wright concept plan, the north Weston concept plan, the Weston Group Centre master plan and the Molonglo Valley independent review of planning, development and built form.
In addition to that planning work, the government responds to the changing and evolving needs of the community over time. We continue to use the strategic transport model to predict future travel demand across the network by taking into account land use projections like population growth, employment, shopping precincts and school
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