[COM] South Road Superway | $842m | 3km

[raulduke]

What a load of CRAP you dont know what you are talking about do you james. Green cards are getting fazed out into white cards and is all about safety so the workers can go home alive every night and has nothing to do with the union, The union has no power anymore so you hardly ever see them on site. What are you talking about when you say that the workers are all slack , if your slack the boss will sack you because there is no job security at all the union cant do anything. The pay is also crap why do you think there is such a skill shortage because no kids want to work hard for fuckall pay do they.

1. The Union does still have power - take a look at the CFMEU in WA and Victoria.

2. The pay is good in the construction industry - the hours aren't.

3. The skills shortage is due to the better rates of pay available in the mining industry (as many construction skills are portable to mining).

4. Workers are motivated by clever contractors .

1. This is Adelaide and your lucky if you see the union rep ever on site, unless your on a big site with the main builders.
2. The pay is crap unless you think 50000 is good pay for a tradesman of 25 years experiance. The hours are great 7 to 3 unless you cant get out of bed.
3. They only started talking about skills shortage because the mining industry is was taking off, and ofcourse there are plenty of tradesman working away because the money is 3 times better.

Must not be a very good tradesman - these guys generally charge up to $110/hr.

Avergage rate of pay onsite would be well over $35/hr with penalties for tradies + crib + travel etc

On a 50hr week, if one were motivated enough, thats atleast 90k.

[Cruise]

poorly educated Indian labourers

Why would they be poorly educated? There'd be literally millions of qualified tradies in India willing to sit though the Australian equivalent qualification.

What we would class a a tradesperson here in Australia is different to what they would class as a tradeperson in India.

In some countries, Simple labourers can call themselves a tradesperson

[Xaragmata]

Southern approach is largely complete; northern road base is still under construction, but progressing well.
Some pics from friday - http://www.xaragmata.thebbs.org/album/c ... index.html

[Norman]

Southern approach is largely complete; northern road base is still under construction, but progressing well.
Some pics from friday - http://www.xaragmata.thebbs.org/album/c ... index.html

Was just about to post that... cheers for the pics!

[baytram366]

Great photos there - great to see it progressing well. Does anyone have any photos of what the intersection used to look like before construction started? Was there a petrol station on the corner there or something?

[joshzxzx]

Yeah there was a BP on the corner..

[drwaddles]

Does anyone have any photos of what the intersection used to look like before construction started?

[Xaragmata]

Great photos there - great to see it progressing well. Does anyone have any photos of what the intersection used to look like before construction started? Was there a petrol station on the corner there or something?

I've got some of the service station closed & fenced prior to demolition, starting at
http://www.xaragmata.thebbs.org/album/c ... s/bp1.html
and most of South Rd along the site except for a few houses already demolished.

[peas_and_corn]

I've noticed that the protest banners are still up at the gas works- what are their specific complaints to Rann?

[skyliner]

Does anyone have any photos of what the intersection used to look like before construction started?

Is that arrow to Hindmarsh lit up or am I imagining this? A great feature if this is for night road use.

ADELAIDE - CITY ON THE MOVE

[Xaragmata]

Is that arrow to Hindmarsh lit up or am I imagining this? A great feature if this is for night road use.

It is lit - I think the intention was to allow an extra right turn lane to Anzac Hwy for the morning peak.

[drwaddles]

Is that arrow to Hindmarsh lit up or am I imagining this? A great feature if this is for night road use.

It is lit - I think the intention was to allow an extra right turn lane to Anzac Hwy for the morning peak.

That's correct - it's electronic so they can show a variable message.

The are used in Sydney around the place - particularly at tunnel approaches - but they seem to fail quite regularly and thus leave no indication of which lane goes where

Forza the old school foldable signs

[Cruise]

The Port River Expressway has foldable signs

[Port Adelaide Fan]

Underpass argument far from over

THE $118 million South Rd underpass will soon be open, but business owners remain angy as Premier Mike Rann insists he cannot tailor policy to suit them.

The Anzac Hwy intersection is one of the most congested in Adelaide and business owners have complained that the two-year project has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

Today, Premier Mike Rann said the underpass would be open to traffic next month and the project was on budget and ahead of schedule.

It has been touted as the first step in creating a north-south highway running through the heart of the state's capital.

"The underpass is another example of the action we are taking now for the future where transport solutions are concerned," Mr Rann said.

"Anyone who doubts the progress South Australia is making on strategic infrastructure need only look at the work done here. It is truly an impressive project."

Mr Rann said the government was confident it could maintain a massive spending spree on new infrastructure six times that of the previous government during a devastating downturn in the global economy.

"Despite the global financial crisis, South Australia remains open for business," he said.

"The tramline extension, electrification and re-sleepering of railway lines, desalination plant and Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital are all set to get under way."

The underpass will carry an Anzac theme and final landscaping at street level will be completed during autumn and winter.

The owner of South Rd furniture business Pine City, Alex Zabolocki, said the underpass had already cost him $300,000 in lost revenue and had forced the closure of other businesses in the area.

"If it weren't for the fact I own the real estate, I would be gone too," he told AdelaideNow.

"I've had to cut back my staff and lay people off. I've trimmed back on all my costs."

Pine City and other businesses along South Rd, including GasWorks, have been carrying protest banners for months telling Mr Rann "your underpass is hurting us".

Mr Zabolocki said he had written to both Mr Rann and Infrastructure Minister Pat Conlon asking for assistance and seeking compensation.

"They just knock on your door and tell you they are going to dig this big hole and that's their idea of consultation," Mr Zabolocki said.

"It's absolutely unjust."

He says once the underpass is open to traffic and workmen move to street level the "nightmare will get even worse" and customers are further deterred from stopping.

Mr Rann told AdelaideNow that "I have to make decisions for all the people of the state".

"For years people have been saying `when is a government going to have the guts to bite the bullet and fix the South Rd'.

"This government did. We make decisions for all of the people of this state, not just a few.

"If we basically responded to every single complaint, then nothing would happen, and the media would be saying `why doesn't anything happen in this state?"'

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 01,00.html

[frank1]

Underpass argument far from over

Mr Rann told AdelaideNow that "I have to make decisions for all the people of the state".

"For years people have been saying `when is a government going to have the guts to bite the bullet and fix the South Rd'.

"This government did. We make decisions for all of the people of this state, not just a few.

"If we basically responded to every single complaint, then nothing would happen, and the media would be saying `why doesn't anything happen in this state?"'

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 01,00.html

Well said, totally agree