Road Photos & Information: Australian Capital Territory

Northbourne Avenue, Vernon Circle, Commonwealth Avenue, State Circle, Capital Circle, Canberra Avenue, Hume Place and Monaro Highway (National Route 23)

Statistics:

• Length: 45 km (Full length (ACT, NSW and Vic): 320 km)
• Northern Terminus: Corner of Barton Highway (NH25), and Federal Highway (NH23) at Downer and Lyneham
• Southern Terminus: NSW Border at Williamsdale
• Suburbs, Towns & Localities along route: Downer, Dickson, Lyneham, Braddon, Turner, Civic (Canberra), Acton, Parkes, Capital Hill, Forrest, Kingston, Fyshwick, Symonston, Hume, Gilmore, Richardson, Theodore, Royalla and Williamstown

Route Numbering:

• Current:
• Multiplexed with:

General Information:

In the ACT, NR23 serves as the main connector route from Canberra to the snowfields in southern NSW and northern Victoria. Large numbers of motorists travel the 2.5 hour trip from Sydney to Canberra, and then continue through Cooma and beyond.

The route varies from multi laned dual carriageway in the urban areas of North and South Canberra to rural highway further south of the city. It passes directly past Australia's Parliament House and other significant areas containing offices for the administration of the country. It also passes through suburban areas, industrial areas at Fyshwick and Hume, plus farming zones and bushland.

National Route 23 shares its path with several Tourist Drives, which are 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Between the spans on the southern side of the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge over Lake Burley Griffin, there's two granite stones from the 1817 Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames in London. These were presented to Australia after the 1817 Waterloo Bridge was demolished in the 1940s and replaced by a modern structure. A plaque reads, in part, "Stones such as these from the bridge were presented to Australia and other parts of the British world to further historic links in the British Commonwealth of Nations".

History:

• 1911: Planning of Commonwealth Avenue, Vernon Circle and Northbourne Avenue by Walter Burley Griffin. 1
• 1916: The first Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, completed 1916. 2
• 1922: The first Commonwealth Avenue Bridge was damaged by flood. 2
• 1923-1924: The second Commonwealth Avenue Bridge built, using three NSW 'Leychester' type trusses. 2 The second bridge was built using materials that had been intended for a bridge near Kings Avenue but not on the current Kings Avenue alignment. 3
• 1925: The second Commonwealth Avenue Bridge damaged by flood. 2
• 1927: The completion of the third Commonwealth Avenue Bridge was a modification of the previous bridge. It was by a metre and had an added fourth truss. 2
• May 1927: The third Commonwealth Avenue Bridge opened to traffic. 3
• 20 September 1928: Northbourne Avenue name gazetted, 4 State Circle name gazetted, 5 Canberra Avenue name gazetted, 6 Hume Place name gazetted (named after Australian Explorer, Hamilton Hume). 7
• 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. 8
• 1963: The fourth and current high-level concrete Commonwealth Avenue Bridge completed. 2
• November 1963: The fourth Commonwealth Avenue Bridge opened to traffic. 63
• 4 June 1982: Commonwealth Avenue name gazetted, 10 Capital Circle name gazetted. 11
• 11 November 1992: Monaro Highway name gazetted. 12

1 Canberra - Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, John Overall, p. 12, ISBN 0-9593910-6-1
2 ACT Heritage Library, ImagesACT, Second Commonwealth Avenue Bridge
3 Canberra’s Engineering Heritage, 2nd edition, 1990
4 ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Northbourne Avenue
5 ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, State Circle
6 ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Canberra Avenue
7 ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Hume Place
8 ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Vernon Circle
63 ACT Heritage Library, ImagesACT, Commonwealth Avenue bridge, with Scotts Crossing in the foreground, the Albert Hall at left and the Canadian flagpole at Regatta Point at right
10 ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Commonwealth Avenue
11 ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Capital Circle
12 ACT Planning & Land Authority, Place Name Search, Monaro Highway

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