Businesses cry for help as closure of Parkes Way expected to cause more traffic chaos
Parkes Way will be closed in both directions between Coranderrk Street and the Glenloch Interchange from 8pm Friday, June 27, to 5am Monday, June 30, while the foundations are laid for a light rail bridge.
The road is a main arterial that runs East-West along the northern edge of Lake Burley Griffin, and is a main feeder of traffic to the city, with turn-offs for traffic to access Canberra's north and south.
Canberra Business Chamber CEO Greg Harford said the closure would have a big disruptive impact on businesses.
"That's coming on top of significant disruption around the construction of light rail in the city centre itself," he said.
"There is real concern about the ongoing nature of the disruptions we are seeing.
"It's not good for business when customers find it hard to get around.
Mr Harford acknowledged that much of the work was the unavoidable growing pains of a city with an increasing population, but he said the situation could be handled better.
"Obviously, there's going to be some disruption when you're making major changes to the road and infrastructure," he said.
"What could be done better is we could be phasing it differently and having parts of the road closed for shorter periods of time."
He said some businesses were becoming increasingly unviable because customers were struggling to access the store.
"The city centre will remain open and we're keen to see Canberrans come out and support local businesses."
Infrastructure Canberra's acting deputy project director of light rail, Anthony Haraldson, said there would be diversions in place to avoid traffic confusion.
Closures on a second weekend — July 4 to 7 — could be required to complete the work if it is not finished in time.
Mr Haraldson said the light rail construction would continue to intermittently affect traffic.
However, he said such closures would be similar to that on Parkes Way — conducted after hours on weekends to limit the impact on motorists.
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