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Monday, October 12, 2026 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Canberra Avenue school crossing work has begun

A new school crossing is being installed outside St Edmund’s College in response to two students being hit by a stolen vehicle on the way to school.

Construction has begun on a new signalised pedestrian crossing on Canberra Avenue, in a move the ACT Government says will improve safety for students crossing the busy arterial road near nearby schools.

The crossing comes after serious concern about pedestrian safety in the corridor, particularly following a crash on March 28, 2025 when two schoolboys were struck while crossing Canberra Avenue near St Edmund’s College. The boys, students from the school precinct shared with nearby St Clare’s College Canberra, were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The driver of the stolen Holden Commodore station wagon, who was subject to interstate parole and bail conditions, was convicted of unlicensed driving, driving a motor vehicle without consent, dangerous driving, and two charges of negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

In response to public concern, the ACT Government is constructing a controlled pedestrian crossing designed to channel foot traffic to a single, signalised location. The works include removing older informal paths at McMillian Crescent and Burke Crescent, as well as installing additional kerbing to discourage unsafe parking in the median strip.

During construction, temporary lane closures and traffic adjustments will be in place along Canberra Avenue, though east-west access will be maintained. Authorities have urged drivers to slow down near the works and expect delays as the project progresses.

The new crossing is expected to be operational by early August, with full completion of surrounding works scheduled for September, weather permitting.

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3 Responses to Canberra Avenue school crossing work has begun

cbrapsycho says: 21 May 2026 at 6:35 pm

“The crossing comes after serious concern about pedestrian safety in the corridor,”

There has been no concern for pedestrian safety in the 10+ years that we’ve been warning of the risk to pedestrians, especially school students, in trying to cross this road. We’ve been ignored or dismissed every time we’ve raised the issue, until these students were hit and seriously injured.

It takes a tragedy to get this ACT government to act on risks to Canberrans. Speeding traffic has taken priority here, as in many other unsafe locations. One response in particular was, ‘We don’t want to slow the traffic’. I would have thought that was exactly what needs to happen for safety.

Canberra drivers are in the habit of speeding when they can and the increase in risk to pedestrians is huge when that happens. There has been significant growth in the number of pedestrians being hit more recently.

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LibbyOA says: 2 July 2026 at 11:50 am

Exactly. These issues were raised when my Son was at St Edmunds over 20 years ago, sadly it took my grandson and his mate being hit by a car to finally get something done, the ACT Government should hang their heads in shame,

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