A refresh of Monaro Street (photo taken from Lowe Street) in Queanbeyan has been on the cards for a while. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
A new look for Queanbeyan’s main street has been delayed for several years, but the council says construction will start soon.
Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) has long planned to upgrade Monaro Street, a main thoroughfare in the town.
The project will involve replacing the road surface, upgrading underground infrastructure and other efforts to revamp the street, according to the council’s website.
A June 2025 factsheet on council’s website announced that construction was expected to start by the end of July 2025.
However, a QPRC spokesperson said the project had been delayed.
“We are working through the final approvals process with Transport for NSW before work can commence,” the spokesperson told Region.
QPRC did not provide further details about what was behind the delay, but Transport for NSW (TfNSW) said the two organisations had been collaborating on the project.
“Transport has worked closely with Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council on the upgrade of Monaro Street, which covers a section of the state-managed Monaro Highway,” TfNSW said.
Detailed designs were completed in December 2024 before being adopted by QPRC at a meeting earlier this year. The work is due to run along both blocks (from Lowe Street to Collett Street).
The council spokesperson said plans were changed from earlier concept designs, which had been released for feedback.
“The concept design removed a number of turning movements at the signalised intersections and combined some turning lanes with travelling lanes. The detailed design does not change any of the lane alignments or turning movements,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier iterations of the project had also anticipated that only the section of Monaro Street between Lowe Street and Crawford Street could be refurbished.
The corner of Crawford Street and Monaro Street in Queanbeyan – the area is expected to look different soon. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
According to QPRC’s website, upgrades to the main street have been on the cards for several years, with the project featuring repeatedly in council planning.
One of these referenced documents, the 2019 revision of the Queanbeyan CBD Spatial Masterplan, states that Monaro Street is one of two state roads in the CBD (along with Old Cooma Road).
A traffic analysis at the time also found it was the main traffic route in the CBD and was used by a high proportion of heavy vehicles, accounting for about eight to 10 per cent of all CBD traffic.
The newer plans also don’t include any changes to kerb or median alignments.
The council spokesperson said an ongoing competition would support businesses in Queanbeyan’s CBD, ahead of construction starting.
Council’s Shop & Win promotion will run until 3 October. Shoppers can enter to win prizes when they spend $20 or more at a participating business.
“Council recognises that during construction, there will be some disruption, with an impact on traffic flow, turning movements and parking,” the council spokesperson said.
“The Shop & Win promotion encourages the community to keep supporting local businesses in our CBD – from dining to shopping and health, wellbeing, and professional support.
“The refresh of Monaro Street is a project that council has been working towards for a long time,” Mayor Kenrick Winchester said.
“While the start date for construction has not yet been confirmed, we are kicking off the Shop & Win promotion to support our local businesses.”
The QPRC spokesperson said construction would take 12 months (subject to weather), but was expected to be completed no later than December 2026.
Council is expected to provide further information to the community once construction starts.
Dale and Hitchcock Civil Pty Ltd have received the construction contract for the project.
According to council’s website, the Monaro Street Refresh project has a value of $17,250,000.
