From The Advertiser:
RAA proposes 6km South Rd tunnel
Video:
http://player.video.news.com.au/adelaid ... D4L_qEScVO
JOANNA VAUGHAN, TOM ZED
April 27, 2009 11:31pm
THE RAA says a $2 billion tunnel should be built along South Rd from Anzac Hwy to Croydon to revitalise Adelaide's major transport corridor.
The 6km tunnel is the centrepiece of the RAA's $4 billion plan to transform South Rd into a 22km non-stop north-south expressway-style route within five years.
The RAA's "Towards 2020" report released today, outlines plans for the tunnel from the recently opened Gallipoli Underpass at Anzac Hwy to north of the Outer Harbor rail line at Croydon, as well as a series of overpasses or underpasses at every major South Rd intersection and rail crossing.
The RAA says while a tunnel is more expensive, traffic flow would be more efficient than just having a wider road.
The report also calls for:
URGENT upgrades to Victor Harbor Rd and Dukes Hwy, to be completed within five years.
IMPROVEMENTS to the "inner city ring route" including Park Tce and Britannia roundabout.
BUILDING road safety infrastructure, such as roadside and median safety barriers, high-speed roundabouts, overtaking lanes, road resurfacing and widening.
BYPASSES of towns including Renmark, Penola and Port Wakefield.
DUPLICATION of Victor Harbor Rd with bypasses at minor towns before 2020.
The report, which will today be presented to the State Government, has the approval of the Freight Council and other industry groups.
The State Government and transport groups put a similar South Rd route on the agenda in 2007 when Transport Minister Patrick Conlon, RAA, Freight Council, Business SA and SA Road Transport Association lobbied the Federal Government to include it in the Federal–funded AusLink network.
The Federal Government has honoured an election promise to add South Rd between Sir Donald Bradman Drive and the Southern Expressway to AusLink (now known as the National Land Transport Network) and committed $500 million to a South Rd upgrade. The RAA want the Federal and State governments to provide $2 billion each towards their latest plan that will stretch from Wingfield to Darlington.
Neither the RAA nor the State Government support placing tolls on existing roads in SA.
RAA public affairs manager Sharon Hanlon said South Rd was "without a doubt" the RAA's number one priority in metropolitan Adelaide and delaying the improvement beyond 2014 was not acceptable.
"I think as South Australians we need to be aware that the costs of these projects are not going to diminish over time and the longer we delay the more costly they will be," she said.
"The very first priority really needs to be the section between Regency Rd and Anzac Hwy where the work has already occurred. The work north of Regency Rd is already committed to but what we want to see is the 8.5km from Regency Rd and Anzac Hwy brought forward."
Ms Hanlon said RAA data showed travel speeds on roads parallel to South Rd were well below the acceptable average of 30km/h.
"We're definitely not at that in several sections along those routes," she said.
"A north-south corridor will not only alleviate what's happening on South Rd itself but also those other north-south roads and will even free up east-west flow because traffic will not bank up at intersections."
The report also reveals South Australians paid up to $424 more each in driving costs than interstate motorists last financial year but the state had the lowest expenditure per person on road construction and maintenance. The RAA estimates only 19 per cent of SA's motorist generated revenue is returned to the road network – the lowest proportion in the country, behind Victoria at 25.1 per cent.
"This is demonstrating that as individual motorists we are paying a lot but not getting what we should be back," Ms Hanlon said.
SA Freight Council chairman Vincent Tremaine said South Rd must be upgraded urgently because travel times were steadily getting worse.
"It's going to become more of a problem and not just for freight," he said.
"It's everyone's problem because it's the spine of Adelaide. If it's not working then everyone else feels it as well – not just the north-south traffic, it also holds up east-west travel."
Mr Tremaine said a free-flowing South Rd would help reduce the number of trucks travelling on Greenhill Rd and to and from Port Adelaide along Portrush, Hampstead and Grand Junction roads.
"I would think that Cross Rd would take some of that sort of traffic," he said.
"I think there would be a split of (freight) traffic that would lighten it up on both routes."
