Engineers have completed preliminary designs for the complicated task of raising London Circuit to allow the next stage of Canberra's light rail project to join Commonwealth Avenue.
Work is expected to begin on the light rail's next stage by the end of the year, with the ACT government on Wednesday announcing the appointment of technical advisers.
The $90 million contract to design the second stage of light rail between the city and Woden was awarded to multinational infrastructure consultants AECOM.
Transport Minister Chris Steel said he was confident the ACT government would secure works approval from the National Capital Authority to allow the project to proceed.
"We've got two governments - the federal and the territory governments - now supporting this project with funding and we're looking forward to working closely with the NCA through the works approval process," Mr Steel said.
Initial works will begin before the works approval is granted to remove and relocate utilities along the route.
"Work will certainly be progressing at a much faster clip from now on," Mr Steel said.
The ACT government released a new indicative timeline on Wednesday, showing the development and works approval applications for the project would be submitted in late-2021.
Work to raise London Circuit is expected to begin in early- to mid-2022.
Mr Steel said AECOM would be working on designs for the complete second stage of the light rail project while its first section - from Alinga Street to Commonwealth Park - is being built.
"The public can expect to start seeing work occurring on the light rail stage 2 project, which is a very exciting, important project for our city, and one that we hope will deliver the same benefits that we've seen on stage 1," he said.
AECOM ACT area manager Karen Billington said the firm brought extensive experience working on light rail projects globally and 170 roles would be required to work on the Canberra project.
"We're bringing all of those insights, those lessons learnt, that experience over a number of years right here to our city," Ms Billington said.
Ms Billington said AECOM had done preliminary designs for raising London Circuit and it was similar to other work the firm had designed.
Mr Steel acknowledged works to raise London Circuit would be disruptive for people who live and work in the city.
"This is a very large infrastructure project and it's going to be very disruptive for our city, but it will provide the long-term benefits of frequent, reliable transport as our city grows to half a million [people] by 2030," Mr Steel said.
"We're going to be communicating really clearly with the community, businesses along the route and other stakeholders involved as well as the broader public about what they'll need to do to make sure that they're journey to work is as quick as possible, given the disruption that will be occurring."
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The ACT government has also released a flythrough of the works to give Canberrans an understanding of what this project will deliver.
The project will include three new traffic light intersections, at London Circuit at West Row, University Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue.
Stage 2A is jointly funded by the ACT and Commonwealth, with the federal government providing $135 million to help build the light rail from Alinga Street.
