News
Issue No. 13 - October/November 2003
CAR Urges Vision to Clear Traffic Logjam
The $40 million Port River Expressway project currently under construction could become a major bottleneck and a hindrance to road freight movements, adding significantly to traffic congestion and safety concerns, according to the Committee for Adelaide Roads (CAR).
CAR contends that the new expressway where it links to the South Road Connector, will suffer from false economy.
“We understand the original proposal for on—off ramps and grade separation (bridges) at this intersection has been replaced by traffic lights”, says CAR spokesman Mike Canny. “This is expected to be one of the busiest intersections in SA with average daily traffic flows in excess of 70,000 vehicles. The congestion and delays will be enormous.”
CAR has estimated that the cost of constructing the bridge at some later point in the future may be almost double the current $7million estimate. This, CAR believes, is symptomatic of South Australia’s continuing lack of vision on roads—which will make it difficult to find private investors willing to co—fund public projects.
“We understand the government’s budgetary constraints, but the absence of a long term plan to improve Adelaide’s road infrastructure is leading to poor short term decisions such as this,” Mike says.
CAR applied this criticism in its response to the draft State Transport Plan in August.
“If SA is to grow and prosper then we must be competitive, this means that we must have an efficient transport network, we must reduce the congestion that already exists and provide for the predicted 30% increase in light vehicle movements and doubling of the freight task over the next 20 years. We cannot achieve this without significant investment and we certainly cannot impose more costs on business and the community,” CAR states.
“The plan needs to commit to investing in strategic road infrastructure, not just to building more roads but to building the key road links which...
