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

[Norman]

The last day of official works will be this Friday (11/12/2009)

[fabricator]

More news from the South Rd/Sturt road project.
http://www.minister.infrastructure.gov. ... 8_2009.htm

Shaping the Vision for Adelaide's South

Another important step has been taken in developing Adelaide's dedicated north-south corridor with a $6 million contract awarded for a planning study for the South Road upgrade at Darlington.

The contract has been awarded to the AECOM led consortium that will further develop plans for a grade separation of South Road and Sturt Road and investigate an extension of the Tonsley Rail Line to the Flinders Medical Centre.

Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the planning study is part of almost $9 million allocated in the 2009 Federal Budget for planning works on South Road in 2009/10.

"This is a complex section of South Road that involves several crucial intersections as well as a suburban rail line," he said.

"The study includes community engagement, geotechnical investigations and an Environmental Impact Statement.

"At the completion of this study we will know exactly what is possible and what the preferred scheme is. The project will then be ready to go to tender."

The Rudd Labor Government has committed $500 million towards grade separations along South Road at the major bottlenecks at Grand Junction Road, Cormack Road and the Wingfield railway line as well as the Darlington/Sturt Road project as part of the Nation Building Program.

In addition, the South Australian Government has committed $430 million towards South Road, meaning over $1 billion will be spent on recent or new works on South Road over the next five years.

South Australian Transport and Infrastructure Minister Patrick Conlon said the Rann Government is committed to creating a free-flowing north-south corridor.

"Identifying exactly what needs to be done at Darlington is the next part of this process," he said.

"Construction of the Gallipoli Underpass at Anzac Highway has removed one of the State's worst bottlenecks.

"Work has also started on the Glenelg Tram Overpass at Black Forest. Both projects are set for completion later this year."

The major road and rail study will take 18 months to complete and will consider social, environmental and economic factors in addition to transport infrastructure.

The Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (DTEI) will work with other state agencies and key stakeholders including local councils to ensure ideas developed for the Darlington Transport Study are integrated into the wider strategic picture.

*spin detector explodes from catastrophic overspeed*

If the company get $6m, what planning is the remaining $3m going on ?
Must be another South Road project, but what ?

[rhino]

I didn't realize that the Feds' money was to also be spent on the Sturt Road underpass - that's good news.

[skyliner]

The sooner there is rail to Flinders the better. I remember some renders of a possible stn - reminded me of some inner Bris stns but with all over canopy.

It seems to me that stopping at Tonsley with no Mitsubishi plant is a recipe for line closure unless Flinders is connect. I believe this is what state gov't has in mind, especially with electrifying the line in the proposals for the future. time will tell. obviously, the sturt Rd intersection would have to be addressed with it, due to ramps, inclines, and approaches with associated lane connections, leaving a workable rail inclination level at its crossover of Sturt Rd.

SA - STATE ON THE MOVE

[raulduke]

the EOI is out for the Superway and I understand that tenders have been called for the early works package, which is mostly service relocations and local roadworks.

[fkj]

With regards to the South Road 'Superway' if it does end up finishing near Aruma St, then wont the Regency Road Intersection become a huge bottleneck?

[metro]

oh dear, superway. what a name.

everytime i hear it, it makes me embarrased to be from Adelaide. It should be called something simple and normal: North-South Motorway?

[DM8]

Perhaps that's what they might name the full stretch of it in 100+ years time when they finish grade-separating all intersections and remove direct property access, but until that happens "North South Motorway" doesn't really seem appropriate IMO.

I agree though, "Superway" is embarrassing. Maybe one of Conlon's advisors is a fan of Superman and felt like they'd be flying when driving along it?

[Aidan]

Perhaps that's what they might name the full stretch of it in 100+ years time when they finish grade-separating all intersections and remove direct property access, but until that happens "North South Motorway" doesn't really seem appropriate IMO.

I agree though, "Superway" is embarrassing. Maybe one of Conlon's advisors is a fan of Superman and felt like they'd be flying when driving along it?

I'm surprised more than one person thinks it's embarrassing, as I think it's the perfect name for it. Not only is it super in the sense that it will probably be our best road when it's constructed, but more importantly the original latin meaning of super is above, and this stretch will be.

What it won't be is a North South Motorway. Grade separating South Road makes economic sense, but removing direct property access doesn't.

[raulduke]

I find it amusing that none of adelaides major roads seem to be named after anybody - for example in perth there is the Graham Farmer Freeway, Tonkin Hwy, Roe Hwy etc. But in Adelaide we seem to keep it simple, Southern Expressway, Northern Expressway. Why not take some pride and name it after somebody in SA that has accomplished something?

[rev]

Whats so amusing about that? Who cares what a road is named, as long as it is built to a high standard and accomplishes what it is designed to do, eg save time travelling from one point to another.

[Norman]

I think most people would whinge about political bias if someone called it the Rann Expressway or Dunstan Freeway...

[Shuz]

What about the Marjorie Jackson Nelson Expressway?

[DM8]

Rann Expressway or Dunstan Freeway...

..... get me a bucket!

[Aidan]

Rann Expressway or Dunstan Freeway...

..... get me a bucket!

Well, it could be worse:

It could be the Brown Freeway: not really needed but the government goes to court to ensure it gets built anyway.
Or how about the Olsen Tollway: the government insists that selling it off is essential for the state's future, but it can't explain why - but once it's sold off, the new owners narrow it to one lane in peak hours so that they can charge a higher toll?

Or maybe other roads should be named after our past premiers. Change Ocean Boulevard to Bannon Boulevard (as it has a ban on fuel tankers). Young Street could be renamed after Playford (because children used to play in the ford) and then the Southern Expressway could be renamed the Walsh Expressway (because it ended the Playford era).

I don't think it would be a good idea to name a road after Steele Hall, as his name's clearly better suited to a railway. But perhaps others would like to suggest roads that could be renamed after Corcoran, Tonkin, Arnold and Kerin?