Grade: S-X
Distance: 11km, one way
Road Conditions: Mainly cycle paths
Route: From the Family Court building, University Ave/Childers St, City to the Lathlain St/Luxton St intersection, Belconnen Town Centre, via the Sullivan's Creek bike path, Bruce Ridge, Uni Canberra.
Map: Location Map (Ride No 2) and detailed map of ride, Map 2 and Map 3
Starting Point: Family Court building, University Ave/Childers St, City
Description: See Commuter Ride 1 for a description of the early part of this ride to the Belconnen Town Centre - as far as the crossing of Macarthur Ave. The Belconnen cycleway leaves the Dickson path at this point, turning left and then right to run past St Joseph's school and church, O'Connor. It crosses Hovea St, runs parallel with Boronia Dr. for a time, then traverses Miller St.
The path crosses Bauhinia St and moves higher to cross Dryandra St where it turns right below the Kunzea St entrance to the Canberra Motor Village and pushes on past a farmlet and then up through bush to O'Connor Ridge. About halfway up this hill a gravel road to the right gives access to various Australian Institute of Sport amenities and is the turnoff for the ride to Kaleen (see Commuter Ride 3). Further on, just beyond the brow of the ridge, a connector to the City-Belconnen Town Centre path gives access to Purdie St and the Bruce campus of the Canberra .Institute of Technology (CIT).
The cycleway descends quickly to cross Haydon Dr., a traffic hazard where there are no lights to make your crossing safer. Turn left once you are over this road (the right-hand path takes you to Radford College and then into the heart of the University of Canberra, formerly the Canberra College of Advanced Education, a kilometre from the Haydon Dr. crossing) and make an awkward down-and-up crossing of the old Health Services Hostel (now demolished) entrance. The path traverses Jaeger Crct, South Bruce, then swings past houses to run parallel with Belconnen Way and beneath the spectacular pedestrian bridge over this road.
(There is a confusion of trails just before you ride under the bridge. If you take a connector (right) it will lead you to Jaeger Crct; if you cycle a little further on, past the bridge access, another connector (right) will take you high up to the West Bruce residential development.
(The crossing via the bridge high over Belconnen Way takes you into Aranda. The path comes off the bridge in a spiral fashion, then makes its way between playing fields to link with Bandjalong St at the Aranda Shops.)
Meanwhile, the City-Belconnen Town Centre cycleway dashes along to reach the major intersection of Belconnen Way/ Eastern Valley Way, controlled by lights. (Just before this crossing a connector (right) will take you down Eastern Valley Way to Lake Ginninderra College and eventually the University of Canberra.)
Once over the Belconnen Way/Eastern Valley Way intersection continue riding parallel with Belconnen Way until you meet its intersection with Benjamin Way. Turn right here and travel down Benjamin Way, making a crossing of Condell St, Belconnen, where it is difficult to see vehicles before you enter the crossing. Reach traffic lights at the Benjamin Way/College St intersection and cross Benjamin Way (left) and then College St (right) to ride up past the Benjamin Offices (right).
The cycleway takes you across the entrance to these offices, then behind them, making a crossing of Chan St and taking you on past the bridge to Westfield Shopping Town over Joynton Smith Dr. It continues on, running parallel with Lathlain St to cross Luxton St and link up with the cycleway to Florey. (A short distance past the bridge to Westfield Shopping Town notice a side path (right) leading down to a tunnel. This takes you under Lathlain St and out at Rae St.)
It is worth noting that back at the Belconnen Way/Benjamin Way intersection, a path across Belconnen Way will take you south to Cook and eventually back to City (see Commuter Ride 4), while a path continuing to run alongside Belconnen Way ends at its intersection with Coulter Dr. at the entrance to Page. Once across Coulter Dr. the cycleway becomes a footpath.
Pedal Power is grateful to Graeme Barrow for agreeing to allow this material and
maps to be reproduced here from his book "Riding Canberra's Bike Paths: A
commuter/tourist cycling guide". Other titles by Graeme Barrow include:
