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

[Ben]

There is a big apartment building about 8 or 9 stories near the anzac south road intersection going towards Richmond on South rd with fences around part of it. is this to get demolished for the underpass. if so that will be a big job and cost as well.

[shuza]

The only building of that height is called the Tower in Anzac Hwy near Beckamn Street which is far away from the South road underpass area. I assume your talking about the 4-storey yellowbrick unit block on the western side of South Road to the north of the intersection? That will get demolished.

[rhino]

A bit of news from today's Advertiser:


Hold-outs may stall South Rd underpass
ANNA VLACH, TRANSPORT REPORTER, TOM ZED
May 14, 2007 02:15am


COMPULSORY acquisition negotiations could stall work on the $118 million Anzac Hwy-South Rd underpass.

Project director Paul Gelston said yesterday "serious construction" was scheduled to begin in July-August.

However, about 10 per cent of the 85 compulsory acquisition properties were yet to be settled, he said. "There are eight to 10 property owners with which we are finalising negotiations," he said.

While Mr Gelston was confident the acquisitions would cost no more than the budgeted $40 million, he admitted that a couple of property owners were "presenting challenges".

Some businesses and residents are yet to relocate.

Dentist Dr Marcin Zielinski's South Rd practice was open for business yesterday. Dr Zielinski said he would not move if an alternative surgery being built was not finished before major work on the underpass begins.

"Until I've got somewhere to move to I'm not budging," he said. "We could end up being an island in the middle of the whole thing."

Dr Zielinski, who employs nine staff and has about 7000 patients, said he was seeking legal advice about the amount of compensation he had been offered.

South Rd resident Simon Gaynes said he had been renting his unit for more than four years and would not leave until the government found him alternative accommodation nearby.

"It's been horribly stressful over the past year and a bit. (It's) hard waiting to find out if you've got a home or where you're going to live," he said.

"The Government has told me I'm pretty much at the top of the waiting list for a Housing Trust place but there are no Housing Trust places available near here and I work just nearby."

Mr Gelston said yesterday preliminary work on the project would continue in the coming weeks and Telstra lines from under South Rd would also be relocated to back streets in the next couple of months.

The project was still on track to be completed by mid-2009 within the $118 million revised budget announced last December "at this stage", he said.

[jimmy_2486]

I for one cannot wait for this underpass to finish and to see the effects it will have on traffic heading southbound especially.

However I am a little bit appalled as to why they didn't spend that little bit extra and whack on 6 lanes instead of leaving 4.

I know that because south road is a 4 lane road, the underpass should be 4 lanes also.

However i believe if they were really wanting to look after the future growth of Adelaide they would make it 6 lanes now, that will make it easier for when we have to make THE WHOLE ROAD 6 lanes wide. And I believe this need will occur soon as well as complete grade separation!

[AtD]

"Widening roads to cure congestion is like widening your belt to cure obesity"

Jimmy, rather than building ever wider roads, money could be better spent on bringing our public transport network, especially the rail network, up to scratch. A train has the potential to take several hundred cars off the road.

[jimmy_2486]

Yes AtD that is very true we do need better public transport.

Question I should be asking is should south road ever be upgraded into a grade separated motorway sometime in the future??

I mean along side upgrading our public transport with better/more trains, and locally making buses reach out to more and more areas to bring people to major interchanges, we would still need to in the future widen south road. Its gonna have to happen sometime!!

I am not saying to widen ALL of south road now. All I am saying is to make the underpass a six laner one so that when it does come time to widen south road the underpass wont have to be touched.

Any other thoughts?

[bdm]

The Sydney Harbour Bridge, I think, has eight lanes? Of these, one lane carries more people across it than all the other lanes combined--the bus lane.

PT needs to be upgraded. These road upgrades are stupid considering that this money could go towards light rail, more buses, or an overhaul of our train network.

[bmw boy]

I agree with Jimmy, although yes i think AtD and bdm do make a good point.

If the government's 'strategic plan' has in mind that by 2050 our population will be 2 million, then won't this mean basically, double the traffic on our roads?

Some time in the not too distant future south road is going to be in the same position it is in now.....because the improvements dont go far enough in taking into account the future.

Why are these traffic problems occuring now? because one of our bussiest roads only has 2 lanes either way..... becuase of a lack of future planning.
We'll be kicking ourselves in the future for not acting on it while we had the chance... and why not... theres no point doing half the job now, when you know in the future it's going to have to be delt with.
Wouldnt this cost more money in the long run? .... wouldn't this cause more uneccessary dissruptions in the future when they do decide to do something with the road?

South Rd is already a nightmare with the amount of Semi-Trailors using it, in the future there will be more and more on the roads.

Public transport and the road network go hand in hand, one can't work without the other, thats why i think both must be upgraded.

[jimmy_2486]

The Sydney Harbour Bridge, I think, has eight lanes? Of these, one lane carries more people across it than all the other lanes combined--the bus lane.

Ok then, well sydney harbour bridge has HOW MANY LANES AGAIN??
and....HOW MANY lanes does south road have???

Also, the sydney harbour bridge has a bus lane.....HOW MANY bus lanes do we have on south road in the inner 10 km where it really counts???? ZIPPPPPOO

So making the underpass 6 lanes will be a much better choice for the point your trying to get across with bus lanes. I mean how the hell are you going to put a bus only lane on a friggin 4 lane road???

As I said before im not saying to spend billions of dollars adding an extra 2 lanes to south road in all sections. All im saying is to make the underpass at LEAST 6 lanes so that if we need to give south road more lanes, we do not need to touch the underpass. Simple as that.

[Cruise]

Public transport and the road network go hand in hand, one can't work without the other, thats why i think both must be upgraded.

Whos gonna pay for all these upgrades?

[bmw boy]

Public transport and the road network go hand in hand, one can't work without the other, thats why i think both must be upgraded.

Whos gonna pay for all these upgrades?

who's paying for a 1.5 bill new hospital??

who's paying for the origional upgrades for these roads?

all i'm saying is that, whats the point of leaving these new road developements half done, when in the future they'll need to be redone, which in the long run will cost MORE money

so your saying to leave our problem roads and public transport system be left alone? ..... why do we pay our taxes? so the govt can sit on it and keep it nice and warm???

if you dont want our roads upgraded, i guess you won't be needing your cruise control feature in your car, as you won't be able to use it due to banked up traffic

[jimmy_2486]

It will all be done in time.

But we need to focus on both, they are BOTH of high priority.

[Cruise]

Public transport and the road network go hand in hand, one can't work without the other, thats why i think both must be upgraded.

Whos gonna pay for all these upgrades?

who's paying for a 1.5 bill new hospital??

who's paying for the origional upgrades for these roads?

all i'm saying is that, whats the point of leaving these new road developements half done, when in the future they'll need to be redone, which in the long run will cost MORE money

so your saying to leave our problem roads and public transport system be left alone? ..... why do we pay our taxes? so the govt can sit on it and keep it nice and warm???

if you dont want our roads upgraded, i guess you won't be needing your cruise control feature in your car, as you won't be able to use it due to banked up traffic

I want it to all happen too but i just want to see a plan and timeframe for these projects like the non stop south road, electric trains, overhaul of the bus network etc etc i just seems like theres no plan. It seems like will do a little here and a little there with litle thought of future upgrades.

Also i dont like this silence about the budget i agree with martin hamilton-smith, it our money we deserve to now whats going on.

[Cruise]

also the hospital is a private/public partership,

do you want toll roads?

[bmw boy]

point taken...

well i think it is just the way it's done... we will find out on budget day, where our money will be spent.