Northbourne Avenue

Northbourne Avenue is a major road in Canberra, Australia. It extends from City Hill in the south, to the Federal Highway in the north.

Sydney and Melbourne buildings, City, either side of Northbourne Avenue in 1929. Commenced building 1920s and completed 1946; for many years the only commercial buildings in the city.

Northbourne Avenue Australian Capital Territory
Looking south along Northbourne Avenue, at the intersection of Macarthur Avenue (west) / Wakefield Avenue (east)
Northbourne Avenue
Coordinates	35.2608°S 149.132°E / -35.2608; 149.132
General information
Type	Highway
Length	4.52 km (2.8 mi)
Gazetted	20 September 1928
Route number(s)	A23 (2013–present)
Former route number	National Route 23 (1955–2013) (Entire route) ACT Tourist Drive 1 (through Civic) ACT Tourist Drive 2 (Civic–Turner) ACT Tourist Drive 4 (through Lyneham) ACT Tourist Drive 7 (Civic–Turner)
Major junctions
South end	Vernon Circle Civic, Australian Capital Territory
	London Circuit Barry Drive Cooyong Street Macarthur Avenue Wakefield Avenue Mouat Street Antill Street Barton Highway
North end	Federal Highway Lyneham, Australian Capital Territory
Location(s)
Major suburbs	Civic, Braddon, Turner, Dickson, Lyneham, Downer
Highway system
Highways in Australia National Highway • Freeways in Australia Road infrastructure in Canberra

It is a north–south running road which has three lanes for motorised traffic, and one lane for bicycles running in each direction, with a large median strip containing a light railway line between rows of trees. The speed limit is 60 km/h north of Barry Drive. Civic contains a strictly enforced 40 km/h zone with multiple fixed red light/speed cameras and mobile speed cameras operating along the entire length of the road.

Northbourne Avenue is the dividing line between the suburbs of Turner and Lyneham on the west, with the suburbs of Braddon, Dickson and Downer on the east.

Aerial view of Northbourne Avenue looking north from Civic. City Hill is in the foreground.

Many ACTION buses travelling between City and Dickson, Gungahlin or Belconnen used the road, which had many bus stops along it until the light rail line along the median strip opened in April 2019.[1]

Northbourne Avenue was planted with Eucalyptus elata (river peppermint gums) between 1983 and 1986, the third generation of Eucalyptus on the road.[2] The previous generation was Corymbia maculata (spotted gums). The river peppermint gums were cleared for Capital Metro and replanted with Eucalyptus mannifera (brittle gums).[3]