Roads! Roads! Roads! That's invariably what existing residents say they want as the Molonglo Valley looks set to accelerate its already break-neck expansion.
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"Cotter Road is already packed," Jyotsna Kumar who owns the Ajilo supermarket in Wright said.
"It's bumper to bumper. That's a big thing," Mathisha Wahikala said.
"When we came here five years ago, there was nothing but now we see increased traffic - bumper to bumper for 45 minutes in the morning. They haven't thought of the infrastructure."
The traffic gets worse when - as frequently happens - Coppins Crossing over the Molonglo River floods. Diverted traffic then backs through alternative routes.
"You can't get out in the morning when the Coppins Crossing bridge closes," Talia Mihailakis said as she pushed one-year-old Pia in a pram and held Sunny, the dog, tight on a lead.
The three suburbs of Wright, Denman Prospect and Coombs have all the feel of a new town - but one without a focus. Gunghalin, Woden and Belconnen all have centres. It's hard to see where the centre of this new conurbation will be.
New apartment blocks are springing up alongside swathes of shiny new suburban bungalows, many of them yet to be occupied. Cranes tower over the suburbs as the bush is transformed into urban Canberra.
What this area really needs is a police station.
- Jyotsna Kumar
New residents, already there, say much is right in their area - that's why they moved in. The buses are frequent, they say - though many also say they don't use the bus. Schools are being built. Parks are plentiful. There are cycle tracks. It feels safe.
But some worry that the accelerated growth will change the area's current easy living, with access to the Molonglo Mountains, into something much more urban and unplanned.
The ACT government's Suburban Land Agency calls the seven suburbs which make up the Molonglo Valley its "largest urban development front".
It boasts of the easy car access as "just a 15-minute drive to Canberra's CBD".
But the unanswered question is whether suburbs dependent on cars will have the roads to take them - and also on how suburbs dependent on cars will align with the green aspirations of the ACT government.
There are already signs that the provision of infrastructure is not keeping up with the high speed expansion of population.
In Coombs, for example, there is a big medical centre - the Molonglo Health Hub. On the other hand, there's not enough police presence, according to Jyotsna Kumar who owns the nearby Indian supermarket.
"What this area really needs is a police station," she said. Her store has been burgled six times in four years. There's no cash left overnight but intruders even take ice cream. Ms Kumar says the nearest police station is in Woden.
She loves the area, though, and she loves Canberra. Her suggestions are for improvement on a place she thinks is pretty good.
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Apart from the roads, some residents said that the area badly needs big supermarkets.
The IGA at the Denman Village precinct was good, Helen Bird felt, but not sufficient for the needs which big supermarkets satisfy. "It needs and Aldi or a Woolies which has everything," she said.
As expansion looms, residents are also torn between the increased convenience which big supermarkets bring, on the one hand, and a change in the area's current easy way of life, on the other.
"The charm is that it's small and quiet. There's a community. It's local," Helen Bird said.
"Hopefully, we won't lose that."
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
