These have been overwhelmingly from businesses in the vicinity fearful the car park's closure will impact on custom. A fair smattering of health professionals have also raised concerns at their patients' ability to negotiate the closure of a large and handy car park, particularly those of limited mobility. That the closure will last at least four years, but could stretch well beyond that, has made their anxieties all the keener.

Construction activity is part and parcel of Australia's bigger cities – Sydney has frequently been described as one giant construction site – but city-goers and the businesses which operate in CBDs have learned to cope with the attendant disruption, usually with little complaint. Canberra, too, has endured its share of construction, though nothing that approaches the scale and likely disruptiveness of the light rail project. Laying concrete and rail down the wide median strip on Northbourne Avenue is but one aspect of the project, albeit one of the easier ones. It is the laying of the support infrastructure – the pipes, the substations, the intersections, the overhead power lines – which will be most disruptive. And the machinery and materials required for excavations and the like will need to be parked – hence the need for a major depot.

Northbourne Avenue's arterial thoroughfare status means traffic disruption during the project's construction phase will be heavy. However, the GDE and the Majura Parkway (now nearing completion) should alleviate some of the congestion.

For the professionals and business people based around the Sydney and Melbourne buildings, the London Circuit car park's possible closure is an issue close to the bone. As Capital Metro Minister Simon Corbell has noted, this is a busy and well-used facility, and it's no surprise talk of its closure should have provoked concern. Doubtless, visitors to the West Row precinct will adapt to having to park elsewhere and to walking further to their appointments, but the vagaries of public transport being what they are, some people will probably take their business elsewhere.

Mr Corbell has acknowledged the successful bidder will decide where depots are sited, and that minimising disruption will be the major consideration. Several submissions to the EIS suggested Haig Park, or a site created by the demolition of the Allawah, Bega or Currong flats in Braddon be considered. Yet, the ABC flats are some way east of Northbourne, and using them would create further congestion. Haig Park – although centrally located – may also be too problematic an alternative.

Construction will be ongoing across the entire route at the same meaning the disruption will be widespread. And regardless of where depots are sited, the effects of the disturbances will be unevenly felt across the city and the north. It behoves the government, therefore, to ensure completion schedules and timelines are unrelentingly enforced.