PRO: Port Adelaide Tramline | $260m

[Norman]

I haven't been down there in a while, but were the asphalting works cancelled due to the heat?

[paul.h]

I travel from the western suburbs each day and await this tramline with anticipation. With the announcement of the Entertainment centre park n ride they are saying it will be operating by end february. That is approx 6 weeks away. Looking at the works this morning there is still heaps to do. I can see they will open an 'unfinished project'. By this I mean that landscaping probably wont be done and the roads may not be finished and the footpaths will still be dirt. They still have the Port Rd / George St near Metro Holden intersection to complete as well. Maybe it will be opened by the 'Caretaker' government.

[skyliner]

Has anyone heard anything specific about the next stage of the tramline. While In Adelaide I 'heard' that there was an ominous silence about this.

SA - STATE ON THE MOVE

[Archer]

We received the following information in a letter from the project director for the Tram Line project at work this week:

"I wish to advise that tram tracks will be installed at the Port Road/James Congdon Drive/George Street intersection, Thebarton, between 7pm Friday 15 January and 6am Monday 18 January 2010 (weather permitting) for the tramline extension project."

It goes on to talk about traffic managerment accross the weekend (Basically, forget trying to cross port road) and the diversion of the city bound 110,111,113 Bus along South Road, Henly Beach Road & Glover Avenue, (out bound bus services are not effected. The 110,111,113 bus runs down Port Road and George Street for those that don't know).

If people want to see the actual letter, let me know and I'll make it a PDF and post it.

[Norman]

The full quote:

Track installation at Port Road/ James Congdon Drive/ George Street intersection, Thebarton

Tram tracks will be installed at the Port Road/James Congdon Drive/George Street intersection, Thebarton, between 7pm Friday 15 January and 6am Monday 18 January 2010 (weather permitting).

The traffic signals at the intersection will be switched off for the duration of these works, with the following changes in place:

* No through movement from Port Road to James Condgon Drive for motorists and cyclists.
* No right turn from James Congdon Drive to Port Road for motorists and cyclists.
* No right turn from George Street to Port Road for motorists and cyclists.
* North-bound traffic on James Congdon Drive and Port Road will be reduced to one lane through the intersection (after 9pm on Friday). City bound traffic on Port Road will remain unchanged.
* City-bound bus routes 110, 111 and 113 will be detoured via South Road, Henley Beach Road and Glover Avenue. As a result, stops 1A, 2, 3 and 4 on George Street (city-bound) will not be serviced. Out-bound services will not be affected.
* Pedestrians wishing to cross at the intersection will be assisted by on-site traffic controllers. This access will be across James Congdon Drive. There will be no pedestrian access across Port Road during the works.
* As above, bicycle access will be restricted during the works in line with restrictions on vehicle movements. On-site traffic controllers will assist cyclists where required.

Speed restrictions of 25kph will be in place throughout the work zone.


Major works at Port Road/Goal Road intersection

Asphalting works at the intersection of Gaol Road and Port Road will occur from midnight Saturday 16 January until 7am Wednesday 20 January 2010 (weather permitting). From midnight Saturday for approximately 24 hours, the traffic signals at the intersection will be switched off and all movements in and out of Gaol Road will be temporarily restricted. As a result, there will be no access to Gaol Road from Port Road on this day.

Following this time, for the remainder of the work, the following restrictions will be in place:

* No right turn from Gaol Road to Port Road.
* No right turn from Port Road to Gaol Road.
* Traffic in both directions on Port Road will be reduced to one lane through the intersection.
* The bicycle and pedestrian path will be closed on the northern side of Port Road from James Congdon Drive to Gaol Road. Pedestrians and cyclists will be required to use the path on the southern side of Port Road.
* Speed restrictions of 25kph will be in place throughout the work zone.

Tram tracks will then be installed at the intersection in late January 2010. At this time, the right turn from Port Road to Gaol Road will be permanently removed. Further detail regarding this will provided shortly.

[Aidan]

Tip for Aidan: Watch how I reply to a post without having to include every part of the original posts and split them up to prove my point.

Yes, I've seen it before - rather than respond to all my points, only a few are addressed. And more often than not the ones that don't suit your argument are simply ignored. I don't know about everyone else, but I find that annoying.

Without responding to any personal attacks, when you increase a 12km line with 3km of track, you're looking at an increase of about 25%. When you have 11 trams in service and are adding 6-8 more trams to the system, that's an increase of 50-70% on capacity. This is a significant increase on capacity to the system, so I have no idea why you are complaining.

Then I suggest you look back a bit further back to when the Hs ruled the line. Even then it was fairly well used. Then the new trams came, and pairs of Hs were replace by single Flexitys, greatly reducing seating capacity. So it really needs a substantial increase just to get it back to where it was.

Also, given the quite vocal support against the initial tram extension proposal, I would have thought that the significant increase in passengers was well above anyone's expectations.

Then you are wrong. Supporters such as myself were never swayed by the media's opposition. And the DTEI did a fair bit of forecasting beforehand. It's something they're good at, and they're not going to let a few claims that it's a tram to nowhere alter their results.

Could you imagine the outcry if the government had announced the project to cost an extra $18 mil to buy trams that we may or may not need should the project actually succeed. Not likely.

And presumably that's why they didn't - Media Mike is quite timid, and not as good at spin as most people think he is. The order should've been bigger to begin with.

Don't you want a public transport system that increases the quality of life?

Really?? Is that what you think PT is for?

Yes. Of course it's not the only thing, or indeed the main thing, but it's one function of good public transport.

I guess that's why people in Africa have it so tough. They have a poor public transport system. Maybe we should tell World Vision to stop sending these people food, and send them some trams instead. You know, to give them a better quality of life.

If the situation is so dire that charities are sending people food, it's a question of survival rather than quality of life. Unless it's one of those incompetent charities that ignores needs and merely damages the local farming industry - if so, the best thing they could do would be to disband. But as I understand it, that's not what World Vision does anyway.

It should go without saying that good public transport is not the only thing that gives a better quality of life. But even in Africa it is one thing that does. You won't find any international charity addressing it directly, and nor should they, but a link is conceivable. Often the most cost effective form of aid is debt cancellation. If a country's debt is cancelled, a country's government will be able to afford a lot that they previously couldn't, and investing in public transport may be one thing they choose to do.

[rubberman]

As I look out of my apartment balcony on North Tce, I can see the worker chappies pouring concrete on the northern track leading from the West Terrace stop toward the Morphett St Bridge. (2240 hrs).

If they keep this up, they will be nearly finished in six weeks. (But everything will need to go right for that to happen imo).

Night work for concrete pours in this weather is a smart move by the contractor.

[Archer]

The full quote:

Thanks for that Norman, The letter we received didn't include the bit about Gaol Road, strange.

[DM8]

I haven't seen any mention of the Gaol Rd modifications until now. To me, it seems odd that they're permanently removing the right turn from Port Rd in to Gaol Rd, thus making it more difficult for people to access one of Adelaide's heritage and tourist areas.

[BillD]

Citadis 201 was out testing today.

[sam]

This was a very quick flyby on Tuesday.

I wasn't quick enough to get a better shot.

[Straze]

Now there has been a fair bit of talk about whether trams or trains will be running along the Outer Harbor Line corridor. Tram trains which the State Government has proposed. Heres what i have understood is going to happen - the trams will run between Glenelg & Adelaide Entertainment Centre, trains will still run between Adelaide Railway Station & Outer Harbor, tram-trains will run between the City, West Lakes & Semaphore. Tram-trains are multi-voltage and can run on both tram lines and train lines as long they are both the same gauge.

[Tonsley213]

Any updates?

[rubberman]

Updates?

Well, went for a bus ride past the works today. They are working on the George St corner, and seem to be doing ok. There are long stretches still needing rails installed. No poles up. Seems to me that another five weeks is not enough to get things finished...but they may confound me. The North/West Terrace intersection is well finished and a large pour down Nth Terrace this week has set a good length of track up there.

One thing I did notice was that there were some old sleepers sitting in the excavation just north of Anderson St. They may be just some dunnage being used for construction - although I am not sure why Thiess would be carting old sleepers round. So they may well be old sleepers from the original tramway to Findon.

Findon tramway was one of the first abandoned after the decision to convert the trams to buses was made in 1952, and the dismantling of the track was not done as efficiently as it was in later years. For many years there were still remnants of the curve from the bridge over the Torrens leading to Manton St - I remember seeing them in the late sixties...might even have a photo somewhere (hah). So perhaps a track afficionado might like to have a look. (Apologies in advance if they turn out to be dunnage for some use on the present works).

[Xaragmata]

From yesterday: