Hume Circle has a report. Will safer connections follow?

Hume Circle could become home to thousands of additional residents. Before that happens, one of Canberra’s most difficult intersections needs more than an acknowledgement that safety is a problem.

A parliamentary committee has released its report into changes to the National Capital Plan for the Hume Circle Precinct. The report follows months of concern about building heights, consultation, existing homes and whether the infrastructure needed to support a denser community had been properly considered.

The committee found serious shortcomings in the National Capital Authority’s consultation process, including a lack of detail, transparency and meaningful opportunities for community participation.

It recommended removing established medium-density homes, including Staffordshire Terrace, from the precinct-wide development plan. It also called for community representation on the proposed Hume Circle steering committee and stronger consideration of infrastructure, community needs and review rights.

These recommendations matter. So does the question that people walking and riding through the area will eventually have to answer: how are we supposed to get across it?

A difficult intersection before development begins

Hume Circle connects Canberra Avenue, Wentworth Avenue and Sturt Avenue. It sits between Griffith, Narrabundah, Kingston and Fyshwick and carries significant traffic between Canberra and Queanbeyan.

It has also been identified as one of the ACT’s more crash-prone intersections.

For someone inside a motor vehicle, a future upgrade may be discussed in terms of traffic flow, congestion and capacity. For someone walking or riding, the more basic questions come first.

Is there a clear and direct way across? Are crossings located where people need them? Can someone reach nearby homes, workplaces and shops without negotiating a confusing sequence of slip lanes and traffic islands? Would a child, an older rider or a person using a mobility aid feel comfortable making the journey?

Adding housing without answering those questions would place more people beside a transport barrier rather than creating a connected neighbourhood.

Active travel cannot be fitted in afterwards

Pedal Power made submissions during the Hume Circle planning process and was specifically referenced in the parliamentary report.

Our position is straightforward: higher-density development must be supported by safe, continuous and convenient transport choices from the beginning.

That requires more than drawing a shared path around the edge of a master plan. Connections must work through the difficult parts of the journey, particularly intersections. Routes need to link logically with the surrounding path network and the destinations people will use every day.

Secure bicycle parking and end-of-trip facilities will also be important within new developments, but they cannot compensate for an unsafe trip outside the building.

A person may have an excellent place to store a bike at home and still choose not to ride if the first major intersection feels hostile.

Plan the movement before approving the buildings

The National Capital Authority says further detailed planning and public consultation will be required before individual development proposals proceed. That next phase must be used to resolve transport questions, not postpone them again.

The proposed steering committee should include community representatives and people with practical active-travel experience. Transport studies should examine walking and cycling movements as seriously as motor traffic, including connections to East Lake, Kingston, Narrabundah, Fyshwick and routes towards the city.

The ACT Government and Commonwealth also need to be clear about who will fund and deliver the infrastructure. Divided responsibility cannot become an excuse for missing links or projects that arrive years after new residents.

The parliamentary report is an important correction to a planning process that lost community trust. Its recommendations create another opportunity to get Hume Circle right.

Pedal Power welcomes more homes in well-connected parts of Canberra. But “well-connected” must mean more than being located beside major roads.

If Hume Circle is going to become a busier residential precinct, safe walking and cycling connections should be among the first pieces of infrastructure designed and among the first delivered.

Read the parliamentary committee’s Hume Circle report and explore Pedal Power’s advocacy submissions.