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

[Waewick]

I would just like to point out, I wasn't criticising anything, just curious to the article.

[drsmith]

You may call it poor planning, I would call it foresight.

Foresight would have been to plan the reroute of the railway (as per the later Northern Connector plans) prior to the final design of the Superway. Then the SA government might have had the funding for its share of the Northern Connector and that potentially could have been constructed sooner than would otherwise be the case.

All of this adds weight to the possibility that the Northern Connector could either be delayed or staged. The upcoming federal election though will be of interest to see what is promised in terms of federal funding from both major parties.

[Aidan]

You may call it poor planning, I would call it foresight.

Foresight would have been to plan the reroute of the railway (as per the later Northern Connector plans) prior to the final design of the Superway. Then the SA government might have had the funding for its share of the Northern Connector and that potentially could have been constructed sooner than would otherwise be the case.

All of this adds weight to the possibility that the Northern Connector could either be delayed or staged. The upcoming federal election though will be of interest to see what is promised in terms of federal funding from both major parties.

The later Northern Connector plans still feature that railway, so it's neither evidence of foresight nor lack of it. But even if the line were electrified, the clearance above ground would NEVER need to be more than10m. Stability considerations mean that anything more than double stacking will not be considered, as the risk of blowing over would be too great.

You could argue that it's poor design, possibly giving too much weight to aesthetic considerations. And I regard the number of lanes as poor planning (though in fairness to DTEI {as it then was}, they have informed me that the northern end of the structure is wide enough to accommodate 4 lanes each way if needed). But the railway is not to blame for the height.

[drsmith]

You could argue that it's poor design, possibly giving too much weight to aesthetic considerations.

From one of the linked articles yesterday,

The state government claimed the height of the structure was necessary to allow clearance for the trains, and to create an "elegant and striking" structure.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationa ... 6586383231

My bolds.

[Aidan]

You may call it poor planning, I would call it foresight.

Foresight would have been to plan the reroute of the railway (as per the later Northern Connector plans) prior to the final design of the Superway. Then the SA government might have had the funding for its share of the Northern Connector and that potentially could have been constructed sooner than would otherwise be the case.

All of this adds weight to the possibility that the Northern Connector could either be delayed or staged. The upcoming federal election though will be of interest to see what is promised in terms of federal funding from both major parties.

The later Northern Connector plans still feature that railway, so it's neither evidence of foresight nor lack of it. But even if the line were electrified, the clearance above ground would NEVER need to be more than10m. Stability considerations mean that anything more than double stacking will not be considered, as the risk of blowing over would be too great.

You could argue that it's poor design, possibly giving too much weight to aesthetic considerations. And I regard the number of lanes as poor planning (though in fairness to DTEI {as it then was}, they have informed me that the northern end of the structure is wide enough to accommodate 4 lanes each way if needed). But the railway is not to blame for the height.

As I was posting that, I realised there was another possibility: they could be showing much more foresight than I first considered. The sea level is more than likely to rise due to climate change, so there may be a future need to raise the ground level. Therefore, considering the post tensioned segments also contribute significantly to the height, a 20m high structure would be entirely reasonable.

[drsmith]

As I was posting that, I realised there was another possibility: they could be showing much more foresight than I first considered. The sea level is more than likely to rise due to climate change, so there may be a future need to raise the ground level. Therefore, considering the post tensioned segments also contribute significantly to the height, a 20m high structure would be entirely reasonable.

Taking that foresight further south, there could ultimately be an expressway tunnel, not by digging it, but by raising the ground around it.

[monotonehell]

My sarcasm sense is tingling.

[claybro]

I think it is time the government re-introduced a TRULY independant department of infastructure. This department can map the entire corridor from Port Augusta to Victor. Plan the best route disregarding the existing alignments if necessary. Also if required disregard the current Superway set up if a better plan is available, or include it if suits. Plan a freeway standard road from Port Augusta to Victor.PArts that require elevatation, so be it, parts that require tunnel..so be it. Parts that require demolition and aquisition, so be it. Economics and efficiency of this route should be the over-riding factor Assess the priority sections and plan how to commense several sections simultaneosly, taking careful consideration of how a completed part will have an impact on the next intersection etc. A division of this department can come up with costing of alternatives and find the most efficient way to fund the works. They can then set to investigating various funding options, present it to government as a complete package for the government to intitiate plans. Such a department would have been signed off by both sides of politics and passed into law. Dismantling of this department should only be allowed at election time if a party announces it as part of their platform PRIOR to election and then only under extreme circumstances. I believe this is what happened in this state back in the day when we made great strides in infastructure compared to our population. Since the late '70's however, we have really lost our way and I believe this corridor is too vital to our state economy to ignore any longer.

[neoballmon]

Here are the pictures I promised from 23/2/13. Sorry they're later than expected. Been pretty busy lately.


Grand Junction Road Intersection.


Just south of Cormack Road, now completely closed to through traffic, access is for Toll and other busineses.


Cormack Road intersection.


Southbound entrance from Salisbury Highway


Under the northern end




Just north of Grand Junction Road


Northbound at the Caltex. On ramp can be seen in the distance, as well as off ramp to the right.


Just before the BP


Southern entrance on ramp.

[Phantom]

South Road (north of Regency Road) must surely now have space to fit some stupid amount of northbound lanes where the road meets the Superway. Any idea how many lanes they have proposed at it's fattest? Surely it would be something really huge like 6 or so. Hahaha. It does look awesome, though. It's certainly getting a lot closer to completion than when I last seen it!

[Will]

Thanks for the photo update! Looking very impressive

[neoballmon]

South Road (north of Regency Road) must surely now have space to fit some stupid amount of northbound lanes where the road meets the Superway. Any idea how many lanes they have proposed at it's fattest? Surely it would be something really huge like 6 or so. Hahaha. It does look awesome, though. It's certainly getting a lot closer to completion than when I last seen it

The section North of Grand Junction road will be 3+3 lanes, but at the Southern ramp, they've already started installing medians, along with the complete cement wall, an it will be 2 lanes going on to the Superway and 2 lanes info the Angle Park area. Southbound isn't as definitive to just look at but I would assume it's a mirror 2+2.

6 lanes at most on the structure.
8 lanes at most in all accountable width.

[Patrick_27]

I apologize in advance...

But am I the only person who is opposed to this particular plan?

I agree South Road must be converted into a Freeway/Expressway... But $800+ million for 3km's of Expressway is a ridiculous waste of money..

The RAA said in a report conducted about 6 years ago now that it would cost approximately $2billion to make South Road a free flowing roadway. So, why are we spending almost $1billion on 3km's of this road, 3km's that were probably in the best condition, and most free-flowing of the entire 22km South Road?

YET, the government shelf the $70million transport plan for Darlington...

I could understand if they wanted to spend $200 million converting that chunk of South Road into ground-level freeway, but instead they're spending three times that trying to make a statement, a statement that will be regretted in 20-30 years time when it becomes dated like all the other raised roadways around the world..

Again, I apologize for being a negative Nancy, but this has bothered me for far too long; and I know you fellow people will have constructive criticism to offer rather than negative Labor/Liberal policy rubbish.

[Norman]

In regards to the Darlington study, the cost for the final project was a lot more than $70m from memory. Wasn't mist of that for the study itself?

Sent from my RM-821_im_mea3_306 using Board Express

[jase111]

Wasn't the funding for the planning of the north south corridor. 70 million