[COM] M2 Northern Connector | 15.5km | $867m

[Goodsy]

Won't it be effectively widened by moving a lot of the traffic onto the Northern Connector instead of Salisbury Highway Extension? I doubt there will be much traffic that uses Salisbury Highway left onto PWR once the Northern Connector is in place. Commuters and transport alike will use the NC instead. There will be off ramps at Bolivar Road and Waterloo Corner Road as well as leading in to both PWR and NExpy.

I think the project plan shows the eastbound carriageway being moved a little further north in the area of the current loop, to make space for the south->west ramp to join in the centre of the road.

Salisbury Highway backs up from Elder Smith Dr back over The PWR overpass every rush hour

[rev]

Won't it be effectively widened by moving a lot of the traffic onto the Northern Connector instead of Salisbury Highway Extension? I doubt there will be much traffic that uses Salisbury Highway left onto PWR once the Northern Connector is in place. Commuters and transport alike will use the NC instead. There will be off ramps at Bolivar Road and Waterloo Corner Road as well as leading in to both PWR and NExpy.

I think the project plan shows the eastbound carriageway being moved a little further north in the area of the current loop, to make space for the south->west ramp to join in the centre of the road.

Salisbury Highway backs up from Elder Smith Dr back over The PWR overpass every rush hour

It backs up all the way to the super way off ramp in the afternoon/evening. At least when I've been unfortunate enough to have to use that as a route

[Goodsy]

Won't it be effectively widened by moving a lot of the traffic onto the Northern Connector instead of Salisbury Highway Extension? I doubt there will be much traffic that uses Salisbury Highway left onto PWR once the Northern Connector is in place. Commuters and transport alike will use the NC instead. There will be off ramps at Bolivar Road and Waterloo Corner Road as well as leading in to both PWR and NExpy.

I think the project plan shows the eastbound carriageway being moved a little further north in the area of the current loop, to make space for the south->west ramp to join in the centre of the road.

Salisbury Highway backs up from Elder Smith Dr back over The PWR overpass every rush hour

It backs up all the way to the super way off ramp in the afternoon/evening. At least when I've been unfortunate enough to have to use that as a route

Yeah I assumed it went all the way back, I haven't used the PRexy since the superway was under construction, Cormack Rd - Churchill Road North is much faster for me

[SBD]

Won't it be effectively widened by moving a lot of the traffic onto the Northern Connector instead of Salisbury Highway Extension? I doubt there will be much traffic that uses Salisbury Highway left onto PWR once the Northern Connector is in place. Commuters and transport alike will use the NC instead. There will be off ramps at Bolivar Road and Waterloo Corner Road as well as leading in to both PWR and NExpy.

I think the project plan shows the eastbound carriageway being moved a little further north in the area of the current loop, to make space for the south->west ramp to join in the centre of the road.

Salisbury Highway backs up from Elder Smith Dr back over The PWR overpass every rush hour

It backs up all the way to the super way off ramp in the afternoon/evening. At least when I've been unfortunate enough to have to use that as a route

I live further north, east of Main North Road (I can see some of the construction with binoculars on a clear day from home). At the moment my route to western Adelaide is either Nexpy, John Rice and Salisbury Highway or Elder Smith Drive. The cross-suburban bit to get to Nexpy usually rules that out for the morning at the moment, but it's often the choice on weekends or evenings. I expect that NC will change the balance for me, and it certainly would for anyone living west of the Gawler railway line.

[mawsonguy]

The Northern Connector isn't goingh to make much difference for those living in the area bounded by Montague , Port Wakefield and Kings/McIntyre Roads. If you want to go North on the NC then you have to go all the way to the Waterloo Cnr interchange which is a bit closer than the current entrance at the NExy but will involve slowing for roundabouts. If you want to go south on the NC then, if you're close to Kings\McIntyre Road you can use the Bolivar interchange, otherwise you can't get on unless you backtrack north to the Bolivar interchange. The only advantage you will gain is that it maytake some of the traffic of the Salisbury Highway and Main North Rd.

[SBD]

The Northern Connector isn't goingh to make much difference for those living in the area bounded by Montague , Port Wakefield and Kings/McIntyre Roads. If you want to go North on the NC then you have to go all the way to the Waterloo Cnr interchange which is a bit closer than the current entrance at the NExy but will involve slowing for roundabouts. If you want to go south on the NC then, if you're close to Kings\McIntyre Road you can use the Bolivar interchange, otherwise you can't get on unless you backtrack north to the Bolivar interchange. The only advantage you will gain is that it maytake some of the traffic of the Salisbury Highway and Main North Rd.

The plans I have seen show a north-bound off-ramp at Bolivar Road, so if you intend to come from PRexpy or North-South Motorway, you would use NC to Bolivar, the reverse of the southbound trip.

I agree that it won't be used by people who's journey starts/ends south of about the north end of Parafield Airport/Shepherdson Road. It could still benefit those people, by reducing the other traffic on the roads they need.

DPTI collects traffic count information, but I don't think anybody collects actual journey endpoint info, so it would be mostly guesswork how the traffic will actually change. Pretty much anyone who currently turns left onto PWR and does not turn right on to Martin's Road will likely use NC instead. There is no way of measuring how many of us go over the bridge now, but would choose NC instead if there is an option. NC will have a higher speed limit, which is balanced the fact that it is slightly further than alternate routes, depending on the ultimate endpoint.

[ChillyPhilly]

It will still be quicker for those east of Salisbury Highway to use it rather than travelling to the NC.

[SBD]

It will still be quicker for those east of Salisbury Highway to use it rather than travelling to the NC.

Yes, for the southern end at least. It might turn out to be quicker at certain times of day to use the Bolivar exit than Salisbury Highway to reach the Kings/Salisbury intersection. Further north might be less obvious. For me at the moment, my wife goes down South Road twice a week. Mornings, she uses Main North Road, John Rice Ave (despite Phillip Hwy being shorter) and Salisbury Highway. Afternoons she looks at the travel time signs, but often uses PWR, NExpy and Curtis Road. Curtis Road is a roadblock in the morning due to school traffic until there are more entrances opened into Munno Para/Playford Alive or it is expanded to two lanes each way. The NC might shift the balance far enough that she prefers Curtis Rd in the morning too.

[ChillyPhilly]

From Park Terrace to Port Wakefield Road, it's an eight minute trip in steady flow. Obviously add a couple more to that in peak hour. The reverse journey is far worse; it can take as long as forty minutes to make this trip, owing largely to the intersections with Kings Road and Elder Smith Drive.

The NC will probably carry some induced demand but doubt it would be anything severe.

[SouthAussie94]

From Park Terrace to Port Wakefield Road, it's an eight minute trip in steady flow. Obviously add a couple more to that in peak hour. The reverse journey is far worse; it can take as long as forty minutes to make this trip, owing largely to the intersections with Kings Road and Elder Smith Drive.

The NC will probably carry some induced demand but doubt it would be anything severe.

It may be a stupid question, but which Park Terrace? Salisbury or North Adelaide?

[ChillyPhilly]

From Park Terrace to Port Wakefield Road, it's an eight minute trip in steady flow. Obviously add a couple more to that in peak hour. The reverse journey is far worse; it can take as long as forty minutes to make this trip, owing largely to the intersections with Kings Road and Elder Smith Drive.

The NC will probably carry some induced demand but doubt it would be anything severe.

It may be a stupid question, but which Park Terrace? Salisbury or North Adelaide?

Salisbury.

[mawsonguy]

Some of the problem of traffic east of Salisbury Highway and South of Kings Road accessing the Northern Connector could be alleiviated by two simple (and relatively cheap) works. The first is to build a southbound off ramp to connect with Globe Derby Drive with an associated upgrade of Globe Derby Drive. The second is to build a northbound on ramp at the Bolovar Interchange. Both should be able to be done within the $30million the state government has saved on the project. The Globe Derby works could be designed to be consistent with the longer term plan to contruct an interchange at Globe Derby.

[SBD]

Some of the problem of traffic east of Salisbury Highway and South of Kings Road accessing the Northern Connector could be alleiviated by two simple (and relatively cheap) works. The first is to build a southbound off ramp to connect with Globe Derby Drive with an associated upgrade of Globe Derby Drive. The second is to build a northbound on ramp at the Bolovar Interchange. Both should be able to be done within the $30million the state government has saved on the project. The Globe Derby works could be designed to be consistent with the longer term plan to contruct an interchange at Globe Derby.

Where might I be coming from or going to that I would rather stay on the NC and swing out west to use a Globe Derby off ramp, rather than turn off onto Port Wakefield Road (which will have far less heavy traffic)? If an additional southbound offramp is needed, then either Waterloo Corner or Bolivar would make more sense. I can see why there isn't space to put one at Bolivar, less certain why it is missing at Waterloo Corner. My guess is that it just didn't look cost-efficient to acquire three more properties not far from the existing exit.

Bolivar looks to be constrained by the acquisition cost of the caravan park. That on-ramp only avoids one more set of traffic lights on PWR, which flows reasonably well aready in that area? It will be even better without traffic coming from Salisbury Highway/PRExpy/South Road.

The Northern Expressway enhancements to Port Wakefield Road are going to look like overkill once the Northern Connecter is in place.

[Brucetiki]

Bolivar looks to be constrained by the acquisition cost of the caravan park. That on-ramp only avoids one more set of traffic lights on PWR, which flows reasonably well aready in that area? It will be even better without traffic coming from Salisbury Highway/PRExpy/South Road.

Have you driven along that stretch of Port Wakefield Rd in peak hour?

[SBD]

Bolivar looks to be constrained by the acquisition cost of the caravan park. That on-ramp only avoids one more set of traffic lights on PWR, which flows reasonably well aready in that area? It will be even better without traffic coming from Salisbury Highway/PRExpy/South Road.

Have you driven along that stretch of Port Wakefield Rd in peak hour?

I don't do it regularly, but yes I have, and overall Port Wakefield Road is usually a much smoother run northbound in afternoon peak than Salisbury Highway is. It improves even more past Bolivar Road. Three more lanes each way carrying the through traffic from South Road and PRExpy will mean that almost all the remaining traffic on PWR is either local or came through Gepps Cross and didn't turn off at Salisbury Highway.

I don't use it southbound in morning peak because the time penalty of getting through local school traffic to get to NExpy from where I live exceeds any potential benefit compared to turning on to Main North Road.