90km/h speed limit for Gungahlin Drive Extension

ACT Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Katy Gallagher, today announced that the Gungahlin Drive Extension (GDE) will have a new speed limit of 90 km/h.

"A review has considered the road design and road safety characteristics of the GDE as well as the outcome of noise surveys at various sites along the GDE corridor. This report recommended that the speed limit be revised to 90 km/h," the Chief Minister said.

"The 90km/h speed limit will come into effect from 10th March 2012. It will cover the section between the Barton Highway interchange through to the Glenloch interchange. To ensure consistency it will also include the connection ramps from Tuggeranong Parkway to William Hovell Drive; the City bound connection ramps and the William Hovell City bound ramp.

"A letter will be sent to Aranda residents informing them of the outcome of the review and the noise studies over the coming days and variable message boards will also be erected on approaches to the GDE to help inform motorists of the change," the Chief Minister said.

Noise measurements were undertaken in late 2011 and early this year at several locations in Aranda. These results were compared to those from monitoring undertaken at the same locations prior to construction and again after the opening of stage one of GDE. These measurements found very little change in noise at each location and all noise levels were below the ACT traffic noise guidelines.

"Modelling was undertaken which showed that, for any property where GDE was the dominant source of road traffic noise, it would increase by less than 2 dB if the speed limit was increased to 90 km/h and the traffic volume increased, which is below the ACT traffic noise guidelines" the Chief Minister said.

"The review concluded that the GDE has had little or no impact on traffic noise on surrounding areas.

"In fact, many locations are slightly quieter now than before the construction of the GDE due to the extensive noise mitigation measures, such as mounds and barriers, which were included in the project," the Chief Minister concluded.

More information on the speed and noise studies is available from http://www.tams.act.gov.au/