A double-track tram line will be built straight down the middle of the median strip on Northbourne Avenue, carving a path through the existing trees, which are to be replaced with a new single line of trees each side of the track.
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The alignment was revealed on Monday as the Capital Metro project team unveiled the most detailed plans to date and began its push to get people on board the government's biggest ever infrastructure project.
Trams would run off a single overhead power line, with seven new substations built in the rail corridor, project director Emma Thomas said.
A fleet of 14 trams was planned, 12 in operation at a time, running every five minutes at peak, every 10 minutes during the day, 15 minutes at night until 11pm and on Saturdays, and 20 minutes on Sunday. With 13 stops along the route, the aim is for a trip of 25 minutes or less to the city.
The government has left open the question of what happens once the tram gets to the city, at the moment looking only as far as Alinga Street. Ms Thomas said it was expected to go from there straight ahead and around City Hill, but it could also veer off to the left and wind through City Walk and to Constitution Avenue. Ms Thomas said the end point, including a possible extension to Russell, were still on the table for the first stage of the tram line, depending on government decisions.
She confirmed any later extension over the lake to the Parliamentary Triangle would use existing bridges, and not require a new one – and she said over the bridges the team would look to wire-free trams. For the rest, they would be wired to power lines above.
Construction would start in the middle of 2016, and take three to four years, depending on whether underground utilities were dealt with during construction or before it, Ms Thomas said.
A central alignment down the middle of Northbourne Avenue meant the least disruption to traffic and infrastructure on Northbourne, and meant the tram hardware was all in one place, saving costs. Capital Metro also points to the original Griffin plan for Canberra, which envisaged a tramway down the "leafy boulevard" of Northbourne Avenue.
Ms Thomas said more than half the existing trees needed replacing with or without light rail. The team was looking to "refresh the whole corridor" with new plantings of natives with a long trunk and higher canopy, lifting them above the tram lines.
New traffic lights would be placed along the route at intersections where vehicles crossed the rail tracks, but Ms Thomas said the development would not involve new roads to carry traffic from east to west across Northbourne. Parts of the Federal Highway and Flemington Road would be realigned or widened.
The project team is forecasting more than 13,000 boardings a day by 2021 and more than 20,000 by 2031. There are just 3340 trips on public transport a day between the city and Gungahlin at the moment.
Asked about the cost, Ms Thomas pointed to Chief Minister Katy Gallagher's tolerance for a project in the vicinity of the 2011 estimate of $614 million, adjusted for today's dollars. Ms Thomas said ultimately the market would decide the cost, but the government was not providing a blank cheque to do it at any price.
