Portfolio — 25 May 2026

Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh marked the start of main construction works on the William Hovell Drive duplication on 25 May, the most significant infrastructure commencement the portfolio has announced this week [TA-260525-infras-99313d4afb7a:mBU8]. The 4.5-kilometre upgrade runs between John Gorton Drive and Drake Brockman Drive in Canberra's north-west and carries a combined Australian and ACT government price tag of $107.25 million.

The works will deliver two lanes in each direction, a new signalised intersection, a 3-metre-wide shared path, and wildlife crossings — with overnight road closures running from 8 pm on 25 May through to 6 am on 30 May. The portfolio frames the duplication not as a standalone project but as one of two linked interventions responding to forecast population growth, pairing it with the separate $225 million Molonglo River bridge to serve projected increases of up to 185,000 people in Belconnen and 79,000 in Molonglo Valley by 2065 [TA-260525-infras-99313d4afb7a:mBU8].

That growth-management rationale is the central policy signal in today's media release: both projects are cast as essential prerequisites for liveable urban expansion in the ACT's outer suburbs, not discretionary capacity additions. This commencement follows Leigh's release of the Right to Repair discussion paper on 22 May, and together the two announcements illustrate the breadth of the minister's portfolio responsibilities — consumer-market reform on one side, long-term regional infrastructure on the other.