Yorke Peninsula | Developments & News

[Bulldozer]

They're probably aiming at retirees and maybe interstate people looking for a holiday home. There really isn't much industry around the area, but fishing is good out in the gulf and it's sort of in the middle of a number of tourist destinations - it's only a couple of hours from there down to Marion Bay/Innes and likewise it's close to the Barossa and Clare valleys and also close to Adelaide. E.g. You could go for a day trip down Yorkes.

[rhino]

There really isn't much industry around the area, but fishing is good out in the gulf and it's sort of in the middle of a number of tourist destinations

There's heaps of potential for industry in the area though - it's only 100km from Adelaide and has major highway and rail access close by. There's already an abbatoir not far out of town that employed several hundred people until they had a fire a few months ago - hopefully they will rebuild. There are a lot of high-intensity shed farms (chickens or pigs - I'm not sure) in the area, and Balco is just down the road at Bowmans. When you consider that Monarto has not dissimilar freight routes to Adelaide, and the cost of the land in both places, Port Wakefield could go the way of Monarto as far as industry goes.

[drwaddles]

Any news as to whether this is going ahead or not?

I'm more interested in it's effects on the need for a bypass of Port Wakefield...

[drsmith]

The development would enhance the need for a bypass due to increased local traffic using the existing road.

There were some crude bypass plans in a Wakefield Regional Council report a couple of years ago. These plans had YP traffic passing through Port Wakefield and connecting with Highway one south of the town. This was a poor option in my view. I have not seen anything since. It may be under consideration for Austlink 2.

I imagine that any slowing of the economy/resources sector would increase the timeframe for the Wakefield Waters development.

[Xaragmata]

Any news as to whether this is going ahead or not?

I'm more interested in it's effects on the need for a bypass of Port Wakefield...

We passed through today, & there is activity on the south-west approach to PW, possibly for the shopping centre
or commercial (appeared to be compacted gravel fill - not earth), & billboards promoting the project like these ... http://www.wakefieldwaters.com.au/

Not sure of any effect on the need for a bypass.

[drsmith]

With regard to bypassing Port Wakefield I refer to the Wakefield Council regional development plan from early 2007.

http://www.planning.sa.gov.au/edp/pdf/WAKR.PDF

Specifically I refer to the map on page 30 which shows a bypass option and a realligned Balaklava road to the north of the Port Wakefield township. To me this plan fails to address adequately the volume of holiday traffic going to/from Yorke Peninsula as this is all still forced through the town. There is also the question of cost due to two possible interchanges. To me the interchange (overpass) south of the town is in the wrong location and where the Balaklava road meets the bypass, two T junctions would suffice.

To satisfy the immediate objective of providing a route around the town for YP holiday traffic and to keep the immediate cost down I suggest a two stage project as follows;

Stage 1:

1) Build the outer bypass along Berno's road as suggested on the map on page 30. It could be constructed either as single carriageway or dual carriageway.
2) Reallign the Balaklava road nore of the Port Wakefield townsite as shown in the map. Construct two T junctions where the Balaklava road intersects with the new outer bypass.
3) Construct the Bussenchutts link road as shown on the map. This would provide access to/from the Kulpara road for traffic to/from Snowtown.
4) Close the road segment (across Mathews Road) that would otherwise link the new bypass to the Kulpara Road. Access to/from Port Wakefield via highway 1 from the north would now be via the realligned Balaklava road.

The new intersection south of the town this would essentially replace the current one to the north. This could be constructed at grade in the same style as the intersection at the southern end of the New Perth-Bunbury highway in Western Australia.

http://www.sgalliance.com.au/pdf/alignm ... v02_27.pdf

The natural route for YP traffic is still through the town however there in an alternative via the outer bypass and the realligned Balaklava entry. The latter would provide additional road capacity around the town during peak holiday periods.

The above bypass could be easily upgraded further into the future as traffic volumes increased as follows;

Stage 2:

1) Extend the Kulpara road in the vacinity of Mathews Road to connect to the outer bypass north of Port Wakefield and construct any overpass there.
2) Duplicate the full length of the outher bypass (if not done earlier).
3) Construct a T Junction where the existing Kulpara road neets the Mathews road extension. This would provide direct access to Port Wakefield for YP traffic.

Once completed this would provide a high speed, high capacity solution around Port Wakefield for all traffic.

[drwaddles]

Is there any reason Matthews Road can't be used as the link instead of Bussenchutts Road?

Btw, does anyone know what the original highway route through Port Wakefield was? Supposedly the current route is a deviation of some sort - but I'm yet to determine the authenticity of that claim.

[drsmith]

An alternative to Bussenchutts Road is the existing road between the Kulpara road and the outer bypass route. Reconstruction of the current intersection north of Port Wakefield would however be desired to give YP traffic full priority. The intersections at both ends may need to be built to a higher standard than for the Bussenchutts Road option as interstate truckies would be tempted to use the link as their northern access to Port Wakefield. The Bussenchutts Road option would serve mainly local/regional traffic only.

With the Bussenchutts Road link the ultimate interchange north of Port Wakefield could be a high speed, no conflict interchange with only an exit ramp for northbound YP traffic and and overpass for southbound traffic from YP towards Adelaide.

The existing road through Port Wakefield is bypass in itself but I don't know where any original road went through the town to the west.

[drsmith]

Interesting roadworks between the town and the dual carriageway to the south. The road has been widened to include a centre median with a wire rope barrier to be constructed in the median. According to the sign at the southern end of the works this is a two year saftey trial and is costing $2m. As of today the underlying roadworks were complete but the centre median rope barrier is yet to be constructed.

[drsmith]

Looking at the Major Road and Rail Initiatives Under the Nation Building Program it appears we are not going to see a bypass of Port Wakefield this side of 2014.

http://www.nationbuildingprogram.gov.au ... ril_09.pdf

The RAA in it's Towards 2020 document has it penciled in between 2015 and 2020.

It seems changes of government at a federal level have not been favourable to this project. The Coalition as part of the 2007 federal election campaign promised $70m for the bypass. Interestingly though it was the coalition government that scuttled plans for a bypass in the mid 90's when they first came to power.

The Wakefield Regional council does however get ~$1.8m roads to recovery funding to 2013/14 (Balaklava road realignmant ??) and $600,000 of Black Spot funding to seal the shoulders on a 10km section of the dual carriageway from 4km south of the town.

http://www.nationbuildingprogram.gov.au/

[drsmith]

On Sunday Sept 12 there was another serious accident on the PW Road/Kadina Road intersection. While Refuelling at BP PW, another commuter advised there was a death from the incident although I have found no news reports confirming this. Driving past (northbound towards Kadina), southbound traffic was queued and emergency services (ambulance) were in attendance.

In the absence of a PW bypass, perhaps the following safety improvements could be considered;

1) A wider central median for PW Road at the intersection and the installation of "Wrong Way Go Back" signs on the northbound lane of PW Road facing southbound traffic from the Kadina Road entering PW Road.

2) A longer merging lane for southbound traffic from the Kadina Road sufficiently beyond the curve of the intersection to allow for the safe merging of traffic at highway speed (110km/hr).

3) Replacement of the right hand turn from PW Road southbound to Kadina Road northbound with a new access road north of the intersection for this movement. This has been suggested by Wakefield Regional Council as part of a Port Wakefield outer bypass but could be done in isolation.

The above measures may also to some extent improve the capacity of the intersection for major movements during holiday periods.

[drsmith]

1) A wider central median for PW Road at the intersection and the installation of "Wrong Way Go Back" signs on the northbound lane of PW Road facing southbound traffic from the Kadina Road entering PW Road.

2) A longer merging lane for southbound traffic from the Kadina Road sufficiently beyond the curve of the intersection to allow for the safe merging of traffic at highway speed (110km/hr).

The image below is from Northam, east of Perth. The acceleration lane heading east is for trucks turning right from Northam to Kalgoorlie. Note the increased length of the extra lane eastbound compared to the Kadina/Port Wakefield Road intersection and the central median at the intersection itself.

http://www.nearmap.com/[email protected],1 ... d=20090615

Other parts of the the Northam Bypass demonstrate a simple grade seperation option for the Balaklava Road when the bypass is eventually built.

http://www.nearmap.com/[email protected],1 ... d=20100106

[drsmith]

Another holiday period, another bankup of traffic trying to get through the usual bottleneck.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/woman-ser ... 5976491489

The intersection in the picture looks like the turnoff to Poof, sorry, Proof Range.

[drsmith]

What are the two gantries over the carriageways in the image ?

There's another pair just north of Two Wells.

Do they scan registration details and ping drivers for averaging more than the speed limit between PW and TW ?

[AtD]

What are the two gantries over the carriageways in the image ?

There's another pair just north of Two Wells.

Do they scan registration details and ping drivers for averaging more than the speed limit between PW and TW ?

They're part of the national network of heavy vehicle monitoring cameras which ensure drivers take their mandatory breaks and so on.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/heavyvehicles ... index.html