Good morning Canberra!
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You might be heading into a final week before holidays, or working this Christmas break. Maybe you're already kicking back on the south coast, or elsewhere. In any case, the weather forecast will be interesting to you. Today, it's going to be sunny and 30 degrees. And tomorrow? Sunny and 30 also.
There's plenty making news this Monday in mid-December.
Motorists set for more Northbourne delays
Northbourne Avenue is no barrel of laughs for commuters at peak times. It's about to become even less fun (unless you have excellent in-vehicle entertainment).
The thoroughfare's traffic will be disrupted further as the ACT government resurfaces a stretch of the road when the light rail is complete.
ACT government tender documents say northbound lanes of the section between Macarthur Street, O'Connor, and Mouat Street, Lyneham, show "considerable deterioration" and need to be relaid to avoid more significant and costly remediation in the future.
Dan Jervis-Bardy looks at the coming delays for Canberra motorists.
Steep gradient poses challenge to State Circle alignment
There are a lot of questions for the ACT government to solve as it plans the next stage of its light rail project.
Should it go east or west around State Circle, if it bypasses Barton? How can it cross Commonwealth Avenue's median without interfering with the road's ramp up to Parliament House?
And the steep gradient from State Circle to Adelaide Avenue could pose a technical challenge to the new route under consideration.
Timed parking around Manuka Oval waived for Test
For cricket fans it's good news. When Canberra has its inaugural Test match, parking restrictions will be lifted around Manuka Oval.
Community groups aren't as thrilled, and feel they've been left to stomach the consequences.
As the ACT government announces it will temporarily lift time-related parking restrictions there between 7am and 11.59pm from February 1-5, about 50 per cent of tickets have already been snapped up for days one and two of Australia's series-deciding Test match against Sri Lanka.
Public servants, MPs 'equal in free speech stakes'
The High Court battle over free speech for bureaucrats has seen the human rights commission get involved, arguing in support of an Immigration worker sacked over her tweets.
It's backed Michaela Banerji, who was dismissed in 2013 for her anti-government comments, and says public servants are like MPs in the value they bring to political debate.
In that way, gagging bureaucrats is like gagging elected parliamentarians, the commission has argued.
Residents say building 'too high' for Constitution Avenue
Campbell residents claim it exceeds height restrictions on Canberra's so-called grand boulevard.
Developer Hindmarsh believes the proposed $50 million residential and commercial building on Constitution Avenue meets the rules.
While residents on Sunday rallied outside the proposed site of the development at 71 Constitution Avenue, the National Capital Authority says it has yet to make a decision on works approval.
Megan Doherty with this report.