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

[Howie]

Hiya Norman, that was a rather uplifting piece by Ten news I got a few laughs out of that.

Thanks for your recordings again mate.

[Cruise]

after that we need an overpass at Regency road and Torrens road (with the outer harbour line/port and grange road underpass) and an extremely long stretch of south road will be traffic light free!!!

[Ben]

From The Sunday Mail:

Road funding 'not enough'

November 11, 2007 12:15am

MAJOR funding pledges for roads by both major parties are welcome but still fall far short of the cash needed for South Australia's most important road project, industry experts say.

The SA Road Transport Association has called on the Liberals and Labor to substantially increase their funding for the north-south corridor project based on South Rd.

SARTA executive director Steve Shearer forecast the amount of freight on Adelaide roads would double in the next decade, making the proposed north-south corridor upgrade crucial.

"Can you image South Rd with double the number of trucks on it if we don't have a major upgrade?" Mr Shearer said.

"It will be mayhem. This is a serious issue for SA's long-term future."

The Liberals have announced $1 billion for the project while Labor has committed $500 million with more pledges expected to come in the next two weeks.

However, SARTA says the project will cost about $2.5 billion.

"There is no way the state can pay the lion's share so we would be expecting the bulk of the funding to come from whoever is in power federally," Mr Shearer said.

"They would need to pay around $2 billion, and we should be aiming to get it done as soon as we can, with an aspirational time frame of having it done by 2014.

"This is the single biggest road infrastructure program in the history of SA and the most important one for a long time."

The Liberals' pledge of $1 billion includes $250 million by 2014 and the rest after that date.

Labor's $500 million pledge includes flyovers at major intersections, to be constructed by 2014.

"Labor may well be looking at more funding

[Shuz]

Jeez. $2.5b? Bet the State really wishes they went ahead with the MATS plan in the 70's whilst they had the cash and land.

[Norman]

Doctor's surgery is now gone...

[drsmith]

Jeez. $2.5b? Bet the State really wishes they went ahead with the MATS plan in the 70's whilst they had the cash and land.

Compared to Perth, planning in adelaide for future road transport growth is a sorry story.

Under the Stephenson plan, land was aquired aquired for an expanded Perth metropolitan road network cheaply, some of it for as little as 10 pounds an acre.

For comparison, Western Australia's highway history is contained in the following link.

http://ozroads.com.au/WA/history.htm

[Bulldozer]

I take it after the underpass is built there will be a fair bit of vacant land on each side of South Road there? Are they going to turn it into a reserve or sell it off? Dare I say it, it could be a good location to put in some low-rise apartments. The traffic would be horrendous, but it's close to shops and public transport and soundproofing is very do-able.

[Ben]

From The Messenger:

Traders flag their umbrage

Michelle Etheridge

13Nov07

``NOT happy Rann''. ``Underpass fiasco''. ``Typical heartless politician''. ``Fix this underpass mess''. These are just some of the banners greeting motorists as they creep past the South Rd/Anzac Hwy underpass worksite.

The signs above Pine City, Roxy Studios, Gas Works and Aard Book Exchange aim to highlight the crippling effect they say the works are having on their businesses. Some say they have been forced to retrench staff members, with sales down by as much as 40 per cent.

This has been compounded by radio reports advising motorists to avoid the intersection.

Gas Works owner Steve Kinder said he had been forced to lay off two staff members and ask his children to give up other jobs to help keep the business running.

``They're both working here now to save the family,'' he said.

``I've also had to cut some of the plumbers' hours ... (and) I've spent $10,000 on trying to create a different business plan.

``Over this period (of works), we expect to lose at least $300,000 worth of business.''

Pine City owner Alex Zabolocki said his sales were down by 40 per cent and labelled the banners ``the first step ... to intensify our campaign'' against the plan. He plans to write to Premier Mike Rann.

``We'll go as far as chaining ourselves to the Premier's office for as long as it takes for them to realise the impact they're having on us.'' He said once the underpass was completed expected to be in late 2009 customers would only be able to access the shop by turning left from Anzac Hwy onto South Rd.
Parking out the front of his shop, on Anzac Hwy, would also be banned.

He said the government had not provided any compensation to the businesses and the only help they had been given was signs saying ``business as usual''.
Morphett MP and Shadow Transport Minister Duncan McFetridge said more than 20 local businesses and residents had contacted his office with concerns about the underpass.

''You don't need to be a traffic engineer to see this is going to affect businesses,'' he said. But underpass project manager Paul Gelston disputed claims the roadworks were to blame for the loss in trade, saying access to the shops was the same as when the works started. He said Transport SA had installed signs saying the businesses were still accessible via nearby Orchard Ave. He said the underpass design was not negotiable: ``Just as the local residents will be required to get used to some changes, it will be the same for all the businesses.''

A spokeswoman for Mr Rann last week said he was overseas and unavailable for comment.

[Ben]

A lot of negative reports out of the messenger this week not sure why. Here is another:

End of era as surgery shuts doors

Kym Morgan

13Nov07

A PIECE of Anzac Highway's history was lost last week when the Kurralta Park Surgery was bulldozed to make way for the South Rd underpass.

Built in the 1920s, the red brick bungalow has been an iconic landmark in the area and holding a place in life of the many patients who visited the surgery.
``A lot of patients have contacted me to ask when it will be demolished,'' surgery owner Dr Neil Richardson said.

Dr John O'Brien opened the surgery, on the corner of Anzac Hwy and South Rd, as a home consultancy in the `20s.

With its homely feel, the surgery developed a loyal following among hundreds of nearby residents, some of whom visited it for most of their lives over 70 years until it was forced to close last month.

The surgery was passed down to Dr O'Brien's son, also named John O'Brien, in the 1940s.

He also consulted from the building until he retired in 1966.

Dr Richardson, who took over the surgery in 1993, has moved his practice to a new building 200m south-west along Anzac Hwy. The business is still called Kurralta Park Surgery.

The doctor said he would miss the old surgery.

``It was really quite humbling to work there, knowing that so much history had preceded you,'' he said.

``South Rd has always wound it's way through here, lined with businesses. Now we're going to have this 700m concrete tunnel. I feel strongly that it will divide the community.''

[Cruise]

In that last ariticle i cant work out why there complaining! they want south road to be lined with businesses? yeah who needs to get where there going any way huh?

[Al]

It's for the greater good anyway.

[ozisnowman]

Easiest way to make South Road a freeway is
make it a 24hr a day clearway with no stopping
anywhere. That way business will all go broke and
sell up for cheap. The Government can then buy
the land cheap and widen it to 3-4 lanes each way.
Of course the underpasses/overpasses will still
need to be built

[Cruise]

Easiest way to make South Road a freeway is
make it a 24hr a day clearway with no stopping
anywhere. That way business will all go broke and
sell up for cheap. The Government can then buy
the land cheap and widen it to 3-4 lanes each way.
Of course the underpasses/overpasses will still
need to be built

now thats just evil lol

[drsmith]

Given the cost of ultimately upgrading South Road to a free flowing expressway and the issues regarding access, have alternative routes for a north/south expressway been considered in recent years ?

[cruel_world00]

I drove past the other day and saw the signs...

Could someone please explain to me exactly what these people would like done?

How could the government better manage an infrastructure development like this? It's not like they can hurry it up or anything.

These businesses are basically being selfish and haven't had the common sense to look into other locations for their stores?

I know it sounds harsh but what else do you expect. South Road is a major arterial road, it hasn't been effective in recent times and needs to be improved. Deal with it.