Letter writer JACK KERSHAW says it’s in the national interest to get the light rail route to Woden right – and it’s not too late to make the change. 

The design and siting of the Light Rail Stage 2 (Civic to Woden) currently falls short of that expected for, arguably, Australia’s most important national precinct. 

The route has been described by one commentator as “constipated and myopic orthodoxy, redolent of the prosaic unsuccessful competition entries for the design of the Sydney Opera House”.

Part of its installation is underway (Stage 2A), but there’s still time to get the subject route right, in the national interest, with panache and verve, while still meeting its ACT requirements – in fact, it’s essential!

It is widely known that the current subject section also fails dismally against at least, the following criteria:

• construction practicality,
• financial responsibility,
• engineering heritage respect and preservation, especially of the handsome, much photographed, sets of twined lake and road bridges along Commonwealth Avenue,
• cultural landscape conservation, especially along Commonwealth Avenue South, 
• minimising inconvenience during construction,
• serving as much of the Central National Area as possible,
• attracting and serving visitors,
• passenger views (note: little or no views of the lake would be available from the trams travelling, as planned, between the twinned Commonwealth Avenue Bridges), and,
• timely project completion.

So, installing the similarly flawed Stage 2A (Civic to Commonwealth Park via City Hill), is crazy, primarily because it relies for extension south on using the critical Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and the southern section of that avenue – noting that the rearrangement of London Circuit at City Hill South has achieved its true raison d’être – creating new development sites. 

However, under the reported current construction contract, the Stage 2A section extending from the existing Stage 1 terminus on Northbourne Avenue, around London Circuit to Edinburgh Avenue, could proceed.

Then, the tram should take the optimum route to Capital Hill, in terms of the above criteria, while still serving City Hill, and the Acton Foreshore-Commonwealth Park precinct.

Briefly, that route (which, economically, actually includes part of the published planned Stage 5, City to Molonglo Valley, tram route), and stops, would include:

• Edinburgh Avenue’s northern-edge unused reserve (with New Acton, and the nearby pedestrian bridge over Parkes Way to the lake foreshores),
• the ANU, near the Shine Dome,
• the existing Liversidge Street land bridge over Parkes Way, 
• elevated at the isthmus of Acton Peninsula, (from which an all-weather cable car could connect to the base of the Black Mountain Tower, as a further tram-linked attraction), near the ANU’s cryptic but attractive Sculpture Garden, 
• rising gently along Lawson Crescent South near the the southern shoreline of Acton Peninsula, with its national attractions, notably, The National Museum of Australia, with potential for a new hotel complex nearby, and The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Studies (AIATSIS) and planned future installations there,
• a form of Griffin’s missing curving central lake crossing, (also for pedestrians and bikes [no cars], and yacht friendly), built of say, corten steel, which, unlike inserting a new bridge in between the two carriageways of Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, would be a straightforward undertaking with regard to the impact on traffic during construction, overall project construction time, cost, heritage references, and other factors; spanning the lake to,
• Lennox Gardens North at the existing purpose-built bridge abutment shoreline formation “notch”, very adjacent to Flynn Drive North, near the Hyatt Hotel,
• part of Flynn Drive, 
• then say, Coronation Drive, near a group of significant embassies,
• across Commonwealth Avenue, 
• across the National Triangle, north and in view of Parliament House,
• the important Barton office and residential precinct,
• Parliament House South, and, 
• on to Woden.

This route also avoids State Circle North, currently on a published route, where the installation of tramlines would involve huge, costly infrastructure and construction difficulties.

Given the locale, the Commonwealth should take responsibility for most of the cost of this section of light rail Stage 2, and on say, to the western end of Adelaide Avenue.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah 

Hamas is a terrorist group that constantly lies

Mike Quirk and Keir Hall (letters, CN December 19) confidently cite the Gaza casualty numbers, and are equally confident most are civilians, but these figures come from the Hamas terrorist group who constantly lie. 

All but 5000 of those killed are apparently women and children according to Hall, and not even Hamas makes that claim.

A recent study by an independent UK think tank found that Hamas fudges the figures by, among other things, including people who died before the war started and people who died of natural causes, and misidentifying men as women or children. 

That should be no surprise – exactly the same has happened in previous wars, and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wrote to his commanders that civilian casualties are necessary because they damage Israel’s reputation, as proven by these letters.

Mike says Israel has clearly not just targeted Hamas fighters, while Keir calls it a genocide. In fact, Israel estimates it has killed approximately 20,000 fighters. This makes the civilian to combatant casualty ratio far better than in other recent urban-based battles. And military experts say Israel makes unprecedented efforts to get civilians away from the fighting, with warnings and evacuations.

 Alan Shroot, Forrest

 Nuclear v. wind, but whatever happened to… 

Everyone is debating nuclear power versus solar and wind. Whatever happened to hydro?

Patrick Garratt, via email

Roadkill, there is something you can do

Recent letters have advocated “someone else doing something” to prevent wildlife road kill.

There is something you can do if you really care. 

Fit an electronic Shu Roo device to your vehicle to deter wild animals that come to road verges for the green pick, particularly at dawn or dusk, by projecting high-frequency, non-audible sound.

Don’t bother with the cheap “whistle” variety, which only works at speed.

Prevention is better than punitive police methods or costly government programs. Shu Roos also deter camels and prevent vehicle damage. They really work.

Anthony Horden, Jamison Centre