Statistics:
- Length:
- 32 km
- Miscellaneous:
- Route includes: Mouat Street, Ginninderra Drive, Braybrooke Street, Masterman Street, Leverrier Street, Battye Street, Haydon Drive, College Street, Eastern Valley Way, Emu Bank, Luxton Street, Coulter Drive, William Slim Drive, Owen Dixon Drive, Kuringa Drive, Barton Highway, Northbourne Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue and Vernon Circle
- Suburbs, Towns & Localities Along Route:
- Lyneham, Kaleen, Bruce, Belconnen, Florey, McKellar, Lawson, Giralang, Evatt, Spence, Nicholls, Crace, Mitchell, Kaleen, Downer, Dickson, Braddon, Turner and Civic
Route Numbering:
- Former: 4 25
- Multiplexed with: 1 2 7 25 23
General Information:
Tourist Drive 4 was the Northside Sport & Recreation Tour, designed to take in the Australian Institute of Sport, Lake Ginninderra and also the tourist attractions alongside the Barton Highway such as Gold Creek Village, the National Dinosaur Museum and Cockington Green. The route consisted of multi-lane arterial road and also single carriageway suburban streets and roads. It was one the ACT's original tourist drive routes introduced in the 1970s or 80s.
Multiplexes along the route include:
- National Highway 25, for 9 km between Kuringa Dr (TD4) / Clarrie Hermes Dr, Spence and Federal Hwy (NH23) and Northbourne Av (NR23), Lyneham
- National Route 23, for 5 km between Barton Hwy (NH25), Lyneham and Vernon Cir, Civic
- Tourist Drive 1, for 1 km between Barry Dr / Cooyong St, Civic and Vernon Cir, Civic
- Tourist Drive 2, for 1 km between Barry Dr / Cooyong St, Civic and Vernon Cir, Civic
- Tourist Drive 7, for 1 km between Barry Dr / Cooyong St, Civic and London Cct, Civic
History:
- Northbourne Avenue:
- 1911: Planning of Northbourne Avenue by Walter Burley Griffin. 1
- 20 September 1928: Northbourne Avenue name gazetted. 2
- 1931: Construction of Northbourne Avenue. The road was built as an unemployment relief work project during the depression, back when Canberra's population remained around 7000. 3
- 1937: Mercury vapour street lights installed on Northbourne Avenue. 4
- 1946: Bituminous seal on Northbourne Avenue extended to the junction with Gould Street, Turner. 5
- October 1951: One way directional signs installed on divided section of Northbourne Avenue between Civic and Haig Park. 6
- 1957: Duplication of Northbourne Avenue to Barton Highway intersection at Lyneham. 7
- October 1959: Installation of brighter street lights on Northbourne Avenue, Civic. 8
- 1960: Work started to extend Northbourne Avenue to City Hill, and the construction of Vernon Circle. 9
- August 1962: Northbourne Avenue dual carriageways marked with 2 lanes in each direction. 10
- 1964: Widening of Northbourne Avenue between Cooyong St and London Cct, Civic. 11
- 24 August 1965: Installation begins of traffic lights on the intersections of Northbourne Avenue with London Circuit and also Alinga Street and Cooyong Street. 12
- 23 October 1965: Canberra's first traffic lights came into operation. The lights were installed at the intersection of London Circuit and Northbourne Avenue and Cooyong Street and Alinga Street. In addition to the lights, give-way signs have were installed on the Northbourne Avenue median strip at the Alinga Street crossing to ensure a free flow of traffic on both carriageways of Northbourne Avenue. 13
- 1965: Upgrade of street lights almost the entire length of Northbourne Avenue from London Circuit north to Antill Street. 14
- April 1966: Closure of median strip as part of widening works to Northbourne Avenue at the Greenway Street junction. 15
- September 1966: Completion of widening of Northbourne Avenue north of Civic. 16
- November 1966: Overhead directional sign gantry tested on Northbourne Avenue approaching Macarthur and Wakefield Avenues. The test was conducted by ANU students in conjunction with NCDC and 3M. The test was deemed unsuccessful. 17
- 9 December 1968: Traffic lights at the corner of Northbourne Avenue and Wakefield Avenue switched on. 18
- 6 May 1969: Southbound lanes of Northbourne Avenue extension and Vernon Circle opened to traffic. 19
- 1969: Work commenced on widening Northbourne Avenue to a six-lane highway from Civic to Dickson. 20
- March 1970: Traffic lights at the corner of Northbourne Av and London Cct upgraded. 21
- 22 July 1974: The Department of the Capital Territory modified the traffic lights at the intersection of Northbourne Avenue, Antill Street and the Barton Highway by installing arrow signals. 22
- 26 July 1974: Arrow signals switched on for traffic turning into Northbourne Avenue from the Barton Highway and Antill Street, bringing the lights into line with most others on Northbourne Avenue. 23
- Vernon Circle:
- 1911: Planning of Vernon Circle by Walter Burley Griffin. 1
- 21 July 1960: Vernon Circle name gazetted, named after Walter Liberty Vernon, former New South Wales Government architect, Member of Advisory Board on Federal Capital site in 1909. 23
- 1960: Work started to extend Northbourne Avenue to City Hill, and the construction of Vernon Circle. 24
- 6 May 1969: Southbound lanes of Northbourne Avenue extension and Vernon Circle opened to traffic. 25
- 1 October 1960: Vernon Circle fully opened to traffic. 26
- Ginninderra Drive:
- 1974: Construction of the dual 185 m bridges and dam wall at the eastern reach of Lake Ginninderra and Ginninderra Creek. 27
- October 1976: The first segment of Ginninderra Drive, connecting Lyneham with the new suburb of Evatt, opened to traffic. 28
- Coulter Drive:
- 8 February 1968: Name was gazetted. 29
- Barton Highway:
- 24 May 1956: Route name gazetted. 30
- 1970s: Barton Highway realigned from what is now Ellenborough and Mouat Streets in Lyneham. This was done in an effort to move highway traffic away from a populated area, the road was realigned to take traffic along what was called Dunsmore Street, past the Yowani Golf Course and a local horse riding club. 31
- Late 1980s: Hall bypassed.
- Dec 2002: Dual carriageways between Gungahlin Dr and Federal Hwy opened.
- 2003: Completion of the duplication of Barton Highway. 32
- William Slim Drive:
- April 1987: Construction begins on a roundabout at the Barton Hwy / Gundaroo Rd / William Slim Dr intersection. 33
- November 2015: Work commences on signalising the Barton Hwy / Gundaroo Dr / William Slim Dr roundabout. Works also included partial bus lanes and cycle lanes. 34
- 9 November 2015: Work commenced on upgrades to roundabout at the junction of William Slim Dr, Barton Hwy and Gundaroo Dr to increase capacity and to add signals to the roundabout. 35
- December 2016: Completion of signalisation works at the Barton Hwy / Gundaroo Dr intersection. 7
- 20 December 2016: Traffic signals at the William Slim Dr (now Gundaroo Dr), Barton Hwy & Gundaroo Dr intersection switched on. 36
- April 2017: The $10 million upgrade of the Barton Highway / Gundaroo Drive intersection is finished, following the opening of an additional lane on the approach from Giralang. 37
Click or tap the map to enable panning and zooming
1 Canberra - Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, John Overall, p. 12, ISBN 0-9593910-6-1.
2 ACT Government, ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Northbourne Avenue.
3 Canberra and District Historical Society.
4 Canberra Times, Page 4, 2 October 1937.
5 Canberra Times, Page 4, 18 April 1946.
6 Canberra Times, Page 2, 15 October 1951.
7 Canberra Times, Page 14, 17 May 1957.
8 Canberra Times, Page 3, 20 October 1959.
9 Canberra Times, Page 2, 5 April 1960.
10 Canberra Times, Page 10, 9 August 1962.
11 Canberra Times, Page 3, 30 June 1964.
12 Canberra Times, Page 9, 24 August 1965.
13 Canberra Times, Page 1, 23 October 1965.
14 Canberra Times, Page 4, 27 October 1965.
15 Canberra Times, Page 8, 8 April 1966.
16 Canberra Times, Page 3, 27 August 1966.
17 Canberra Times, Page 3, 12 November 1966.
18 Canberra Times, Page 8, 9 December 1968.
19 Canberra Times, Page 7, 5 May 1969.
20 Canberra Times, Page 9, 11 July 1969.
21 Canberra Times, Page 7, 28 March 1970.
22 Canberra Times, Page 7, 22 July 1974.
23 ACT Government, ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Vernon Circle.
24 Canberra Times, Page 2, 5 April 1960.
25 Canberra Times, Page 7, 5 May 1969.
26 Canberra Times, Page 15, 30 September 1960.
27 Brian Rhynehart, Belconnen Community Council, Belconnen's History.
28 Transportation Research Board, Ginninderra Bridge bearing replacement, 19 February 2013.
29 ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Coulter Drive.
30 ACT Government, ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Barton Highway.
31 ACT Government, Legislative Assembly for the ACT, Standing Committee for the Environment, Variation to the Territory Plan No. 224, May 2004.
32 ACT Government, Department of Urban Services, Annual Report, 2002-03.
33 Canberra Times, Construction of Barton Highway Roundabout, 21 Apr 1987.
34 Canberra Times, Traffic lights at Barton Highway roundabout operational, 20 December 2016.
35 ACT Government, Open Government, Media Releases, Works to get underway on Barton Highway / Gundaroo Drive / William Slim Drive roundabout, 9 Nov 2015.
36 ACT Government, Open Government, Media Releases, Signalised Barton Highway roundabout now operational, 20 Dec 2016.
37 ACT Government, Open Government, Media Releases, Joint Media Statement with Darren Chester, Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, 19 Apr 2017.