YOUR solutions: How should we fix Glen Osmond Road?

[Waewick]

sorry, I was typing on my phone

no it is only when turning onto Greenhill Rd at this point.

[Vee]

I'm also a local resident, and have a few suggestions which could easily improve traffic flow.

Just before the intersection with Conyngham/Bevington heading towards the hills, a short bus lane should be built. From my experiences, especially during peak hour, lots of students from Glenunga High get on the bus at this stop and hold up traffic. The footpath appears to be wide enough to allow for this.

The lighting sequence at the intersection with Kenilworth/Young needs to be reviewed. Many motorists enter the intersection and the lights change whilst they are still in the intersection. I have witnessed many close calls with pedestrians and cyclists when motorists continue to drive through the intersection, especially when a bus is in the left hand lane. It is unclear to motorists whether it is acceptable to keep on driving to exit the intersection after the lights change.

A left hand slip lane could easily be constructed just past the Fullarton Rd intersection to allow for traffic entering Main Avenue and the Frewville Shopping Centre.

Clearway times definitely need to be increased, especially in the evenings.

Intersections of surrounding arterial roads need to be improved so as to encourage motorists to use other routes. Fullarton/Cross Road is particularly bad.

Lots of good suggestions here, Mants.
Agree that the clearway times need to be extended and need to be enforced with tow away penalties, especially in the afternoon. This is a major arterial road with no median strip (for pedestrian refuge) and roadside parking exacerbates the congestion and safety issues.

The Conyngham/Bevington intersection needs to be reshaped and a dedicated turn right lane needs to be added for traffic heading towards the city. This is quite a sharp bend and traffic has to funnel through one lane frequently to avoid traffic turning right. It's an accident waiting to happen area without this dedicated lane as big trucks hurtle down from the hills. This would involve resuming some land from a Crash Repair Business and some old shops on the Fullarton side.

A slip lane for entry to Frewville shopping centre would be useful too. Some improvements for traffic flow may have been planned in line with the massive redevelopment of this centre but these plans have now been shelved.
The taxi rank outside the Arkaba, just before the intersection with Fullarton Rd, should be relocated.

[Maximus]

they have removed the ability to turn right off Glen Osmond Road.

Is this for the entire length of GOR, 24/7?

sorry, I was typing on my phone

no it is only when turning onto Greenhill Rd at this point.

Oh, woops. I thought that sounded very radical!

Waewick/Vee/Mants -- are you going to take up Shuz's suggestion to email DPTI with your very sensible suggestions?

[Waewick]

no, because last time I did that was when I asked them to improve the visability of the times that right turns were available turning onto Greenhill from Glen Osmond.

so instead they just made it no right turn at any time

[Maximus]

From InDaily today:

Transport no obstacle (but you might want to widen Glen Osmond Rd)
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
David Washington – Analysis

THE State Government was told it should consider widening Glen Osmond Road to cater for the extra traffic from the Mt Barker expansion, planning documents reveal.

The revelation is contained in documents tabled by Planning Minister John Rau last week, in response to concerns raised by the Ombudsman about a conflict of interest in the development of the case to rezone land around Mt Barker.

Most of the documents were produced by consultant Connor Holmes who, the Ombudsman found, was also working for developers lobbying the government to rezone rural land to residential near the Adelaide Hills town.

In one of the appendices to the Growth Investigation Areas report, which informed the development of the 30-year Plan for Greater Adelaide, the constraints on transport and other infrastructure are detailed.

Appendix 10: Recommended Growth Areas (Spatial Representation and Key Metrics) says that while the South Eastern Freeway is “not considered an impediment to development”, the suburban roads at the foot of the freeway would need work.

Under “Transport”, the appendix says: “Capacity of the Portrush, Cross and Glen Osmond Road intersection to cater for significant increased traffic volumes (especially Glen Osmond Road) requires consideration and possible future road widening measures”.

Connor Holmes’s substantive report to Cabinet on the Mt Barker expansion is silent on this issue, instead focusing solely on the capacity of the South Eastern Freeway.

Armed with a report by QED Pty Ltd, which was “undertaken for a consortium of developers with interest in pursuing future development within the Mount Barker Township”, Connor Holmes argues that transport is no object to the town’s expansion.

It says the QED report finds that the freeway “to the east of Mount Barker” would suffer more than other parts. While still “acceptable”, it would be “close to the limit of stable flow”.

“Further, the freeway will continue to operate satisfactorily generally near Mount Osmond due to the additional capacity of a third lane,” the Connor Holmes report said.

Strangely, no assessment is then provided of what happens when this traffic feeds into the only Adelaide-bound exit point from the freeway – the intersection of Portrush, Cross and Glen Osmond roads.

The government, when it announced the rezoning of Mt Barker, was also silent on this issue – and has been ever since, despite frequent concerns being raised by the community about the effect of extra traffic on Glen Osmond Road, Cross Road and Portrush Road, which are already very busy during peak times.

The only mention of the issue seems to be in the mysterious Appendix 10.

Interestingly, the other key investigation that informed Connor Holmes was a report into infrastructure in Mt Barker, undertaken by Fyfe Pty Ltd.

Based on this investigation “it is evident that land within the new recommended township boundary can be serviced via the augmentation of all the relevant services from the township of Mount Barker”.

Fyfe and Connor Holmes joined forces last year to form one of the largest Adelaide-based consulting firms.

It is, indeed, a small world.

[JamesXander]

The problem is getting worse. Add in thousands of new residents into barker, LH & Nairne and uh oh. Where is the forward planning? As someone said the placing of the ambo station at the GOR/GWR was ridiculously stupid.

Remove parking, reduce RH turns & put indented bus stops (is that what you call them?) for a start.

[Aidan]

The problem is getting worse. Add in thousands of new residents into barker, LH & Nairne and uh oh. Where is the forward planning? As someone said the placing of the ambo station at the GOR/GWR was ridiculously stupid.

What does GWR mean in this context?

[Waewick]

The problem is getting worse. Add in thousands of new residents into barker, LH & Nairne and uh oh. Where is the forward planning? As someone said the placing of the ambo station at the GOR/GWR was ridiculously stupid.

What does GWR mean in this context?

I'm assuming he missed the H and entered a W as in Greenhill Road.

[JamesXander]

Bingo. My bad!

[Maximus]

One struggles to fathom how this truck was "out of control" when it was going out of the city -- i.e. uphill. But anyway, there is an interesting tidbit in the article where it mentions that Unley Council has recently met with the State Government to request that B-doubles are diverted from Glen Osmond Road between Greenhill and Fullarton. Presumably they suggested that trucks should have to use Greenhill and Fullarton for that section.

What do you think? A good idea...?

Semi-trailer ploughs into parked car and restaurant on Glen Osmond Rd at Frewville
by: Ben Hyde
From: The Advertiser September 11, 2013 10:30AM

A FREWVILLE restaurant says it will trade for dinner service as usual, just hours after a semi-trailer ploughed into the business early Wednesday morning.

"Our builders are on to it ... and the power should be back," Singaore House part owner Naveen Irkulla said, adding that the restaurant would be open for dinner by Wednesday evening.

The runaway b-double truck, which was heading out of the city, crashed just before 1am.

...

Unley Mayor Lachlan Clyne said Unley Council had met with the State Government in recent months to request b-double trucks be diverted from a section of Glen Osmond Rd between Greenhill Rd and Fullarton Rd.

...

Full article

[rhino]

The site of the crash was actually between Fullarton and Portrush roads, not Fullarton and Greenhill, so Unley Council's request is just an aside.

Having said that, I don't actually see the reason for B-Doubles to be using the stretch of GOR between Fullarton Rd and Greenhill Rd. If they're heading from the Tollgate to the western suburbs, aren't they meant to be using Cross Road? And if they're heading for the north-western suburbs, aren't they meant to be using Fullarton Rd and the A21 ring-route? GOR will cut off about a kilometre of that route, but is a much narrower road, and Unley Council is probably justified in their request. I wonder if Burnside Council will back them up (the outbound lanes of GOR are in Burnside Council).

[Waewick]

in light of the recent release of the Lanser development in Mount Barker (with more from other developers to come)

would we be interested in starting a thread on the the Glen Osmond/Cross Roads intersection and the Gen Osmond and Fullarton Rd interesections.

They appear to be pretty big issues outside just Glen Osmond rd themselves?

[monotonehell]

in light of the recent release of the Lanser development in Mount Barker (with more from other developers to come)

would we be interested in starting a thread on the the Glen Osmond/Cross Roads intersection and the Gen Osmond and Fullarton Rd interesections.

They appear to be pretty big issues outside just Glen Osmond rd themselves?

If you can demonstrate how that issue warrants a separate thread to this one, then go ahead and start one. But I'm not seeing the need for a new thread. I'd suggest you add to this one if you have anything to say (we can always split threads).

[rubberman]

Just before the intersection with Conyngham/Bevington heading towards the hills, a short bus lane should be built. From my experiences, especially during peak hour, lots of students from Glenunga High get on the bus at this stop and hold up traffic. The footpath appears to be wide enough to allow for this.

Does anyone from the relevant department read this forum? There are so many situations as described by Mants above, where a simple low tech/low cost solution would greatly improve traffic flow. These little situations are all over Adelaide. Bus drivers that dither around after passenger boarding, cause major disruption, but so easlily rectified as per this post. Also agree the light seqences, that are known to enrage locals and regular commuters seem to be known to everyone, yet nothing is done? So easily fixed.

Perhaps having buses that load/unload with 3 doors?