An eagle-eyed worker has prevented what could have been the "disastrous" collapse of a concrete and glass awning next to Northbourne Avenue in the city.
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One lane of the busy thoroughfare was closed between Cooyong Street and Bunda Street from Wednesday night to Thursday afternoon - delaying Thursday morning's peak traffic - after a maintenance worker spotted a large crack at the top of the old Australian Federal Police building.
ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said a trio of three-metre wide awnings were badly cracked, one much worse than the other two.
The footpath below the six-story building, which is located on the corner of Northbourne Avenue and Cooyong Street, was also closed in case one of the awnings fell and shattered, spreading debris across the busy road.
"One is cracked right across the middle. If it did fall it would be quite disastrous," he said.
"There's no indication they were about to fall but we just can't afford to take that risk.
"These awnings hang over each window; they're structural awnings. If they fall, they fall on the footpath."
Mr McCabe said the cracks were probably the result of old age however, Canberra's recent wild weather might have played a part.
He said the maintenance worker who spotted the cracks on Wednesday was undertaking a check of the building after strong wind gusts rattled the city.
"We can't really tell exactly what happened [until the awnings are removed] but it is a fairly old building," Mr McCabe said.
"It's quite possible it could be related to the wild weather and wind we've had.
"The interesting thing is we don't know how long they've been in that state. I wonder if they've been there some time and just no-one has looked up. It's quite a significant crack."
Mr McCabe said a crane was due to begin removing the awnings about 11am. He expected work to be completed within a couple of hours.
The road was re-opened as of 2.45pm.
