[U/C] M2 North-South Motorway

[Aidan]

EDIT: My apologies: I forgot to update the interactive version URL.

The report can be downloaded from http://members.iinet.net.au/~stang_a/Tr ... adPlan.pdf

...and the interactive web based version is available at
http://members.iinet.net.au/~stang_a/So ... ctive.html

[how good is he]

I counted there are only 36 properties left to be demolished with approx 12 already fenced/about to be demolished.
BTW ... Can anyone confirm if the stone/paver centre near the River Torrens bridge is staying or going?

[neoballmon]

Not 100% but I'm pretty sure the paver Centre is staying. Only properties North of the street adjacent the paver place are being acquired, as this is around where the trench begins, and it doesn't need to be as wide for the regular road.

I would imagine it will be taken down when the Torrens bridge is properly widened, and West Thebarton Road/Ashwin Pde are grade separated in the future.

[SBD]

@Aiden, you have certainly put a lot of work into your alternate design. Well done.

A question that has puzzled me about all the plans for upgrading South Road/North-South Corridor is how these works will impact wider. You've considered commuter traffic and Marion Road, but what about freight traffic? Our main industrial and freight depots are north and northwest of the CBD in places such as Port Adelaide, Wingfield, Dry Creek, Pooraka. Most of the road freight to/from Melbourne and southeastern South Australia enters/exits the metropolitan area on the Southeastern Freeway. At some point in the process of making South Road flow better, someone is going to discover that Cross and South Roads provide a better route than Portrush and Grand Junction Roads. Apart from hand-wavy remarks about cyclists staying out of the way of trucks, there appears to be very little public attention paid to upgrading the eastern/northern bypass routes.

Do you know if anyone is proposing significant improvements to the current freight routes, or will South Road upgrades eventually lead to a step-function increase in heavy traffic on Cross Road?

[Phantom]

@Aiden, you have certainly put a lot of work into your alternate design. Well done.

A question that has puzzled me about all the plans for upgrading South Road/North-South Corridor is how these works will impact wider. You've considered commuter traffic and Marion Road, but what about freight traffic? Our main industrial and freight depots are north and northwest of the CBD in places such as Port Adelaide, Wingfield, Dry Creek, Pooraka. Most of the road freight to/from Melbourne and southeastern South Australia enters/exits the metropolitan area on the Southeastern Freeway. At some point in the process of making South Road flow better, someone is going to discover that Cross and South Roads provide a better route than Portrush and Grand Junction Roads. Apart from hand-wavy remarks about cyclists staying out of the way of trucks, there appears to be very little public attention paid to upgrading the eastern/northern bypass routes.

Do you know if anyone is proposing significant improvements to the current freight routes, or will South Road upgrades eventually lead to a step-function increase in heavy traffic on Cross Road?

Good points, SBD. May I add on to it, that should Cross and South Roads become the main interstate links from the northern industrial suburbs, then perhaps a plan needs to be looked into for the rail corridor around Emerson Station? Could you imagine how crazy that would look if Cross Road (and the two sliplanes onto it) were to go under the railway line?

[fifty]

Posted an offtopic reply about this in the Airport thread, but it should be here. I reckon Richmond/Greenhill/Glen Osmond is the way to go for this, rather than Cross Rd. See below:

There are difficulties with both. Aside from the simple airport link down Richmond Rd, my thinking is that Richmond/Greenhill/Glen Osmond is better due to
- i) the presence of parklands along much of the corridor allowing flexibility with design and cheaper additional width*;
- ii) land value and zoning around Richmond Rd is maybe easier to accommodate a large flyover-type intersection with Sth Rd, compared to Cross Rds which has already been partly developed;
- iii) Glen Osmond Rd and Cross Rd residents and businesses will both put up a hell of a fight, but Glen Osmond Rd is yet to see any development and is really overdue compared to Cross Rd and is shorter in length; and
- iv) perhaps most importantly a freeway going down Greenhill Rd can include at least one off/on ramp directly to the city, adding a major economic justification to its case.

*Assuming the parkland nazis can be overcome

[Aidan]

SBD, freight is the main reason for upgrading South Road, but there isn't actually very much freight traffic to Melbourne (compared with the amount going through the suburbs). And much of what road freight there is to Melbourne can be attracted onto rail by building the Adelaide Hills Freight Bypass line and upgrading the route to accommodate double stacking of containers. Considering the current safety problems there are with trucks coming down the freeway towards Adelaide, that seems to be the best option, though of course there are some types of freight for which it's not practical.

For the freight traffic that continues to use the freeway, it would in the short to medium term continue to use Portrush Road or Cross Road, with the latter gaining an increasing proportion. The best long term solution IMO is a tunnel under Glen Osmond Road from near the tollgate to the Parklands, then running under the South Parklands to Richmond Road and/or the East Parklands to the junction with Nothcote Terrace and beyond.

[SBD]

Thank you. It will be interesting to see how long until election campaigns focus on a new railway line or other road upgrades.

I live and work in the northern suburbs (but lived south in the distant past), so it could be factor of when I travel, but I tend to experience a relatively higher proportion of car traffic on South Road and more truck traffic on Grand Junction/Portrush Roads at the times I use them.

[neoballmon]

Great plan for South Road Aidan.

I have a couple of observations I'd like to point out:

Adam Street: I know it's vaguely in the scope of Torrens-Torrens, but they're not changing it AFAIK. In your plan, removing right turn in's from South Road, can Manton Street handle the extra traffic it'll receive from this closure? Another 4000 cars taking that left turn at the end of Manton St, with the majority trying to merge right to turn right on Port Road, will really cause chaos there IMO, as a lot of Adelaide drivers don't seem to understand merging.
(Adam St currently takes 8800 cars/day; safe to say approx 4000 right turn in from South Road. Manton Street takes 18200, could say 9000 heading east, would increase almost 50%).

Barwell Ave/Everard Ave Bridge: Could there be a U-turn loop under the southern end of the Richmond flyover, to allow northbound travelers to access Everard Ave with the removal of the current right turn, especially since ambulances use this road to access Ashford Hospital, more-so once Marleston Road loses access too.

St Mary's Fire Station moving due to access issues: This could easily be solved, if the overpass structure goes far enough south (which wouldn't be much longer than the Emmerson's span), a tunnel could be built for northbound fire trucks to go through. Traffic lights could still be there to stop the local roads' traffic, and there would be a lot less congestion at the intersection for them. For trucks returning to the station going north on South Road, they can just use the U-Turn loop under the bridge, as there's no urgency for them to get back. This could only be a potential issue for the MFS during construction, but I'm sure it could be worked around.

Southern Expressway: This intersection confused me a little. Why is the western bridge taking 2 northbound lanes, which appear to just be for Sturt Road, Flinders Drive and Local South Road, while the median bridge only takes 1 northbound lane, which appears to go onto the new non-stop road? I would think demand would be much high for the non-stop South Road, with the whole Flagstaff Road area using this lane. I would think both lanes on this bridge could serve for northbound, and all southbound traffic can stay at ground level, as there are no lights, and this would remove the odd configuration at Flagstaff Road intersection, with traffic turning left from the middle of the road.

One more thing, what would you say would be the speed limits in the non-stop road? Is it still 60 as it merges with traffic constantly, or could it be higher?

[Aidan]

Great plan for South Road Aidan.

I have a couple of observations I'd like to point out:

Adam Street: I know it's vaguely in the scope of Torrens-Torrens, but they're not changing it AFAIK. In your plan, removing right turn in's from South Road, can Manton Street handle the extra traffic it'll receive from this closure? Another 4000 cars taking that left turn at the end of Manton St, with the majority trying to merge right to turn right on Port Road, will really cause chaos there IMO, as a lot of Adelaide drivers don't seem to understand merging.
(Adam St currently takes 8800 cars/day; safe to say approx 4000 right turn in from South Road. Manton Street takes 18200, could say 9000 heading east, would increase almost 50%).

As the traffic is in platoons, I don't think this will be a big problem. Because South Road's main traffic lanes would go under the Grange Road / Manton Street intersection, the traffic lights there would cause less congestion than they currently do. There is sufficient space available to extend the right turn lane on Manton Street if needed.

Barwell Ave/Everard Ave Bridge: Could there be a U-turn loop under the southern end of the Richmond flyover, to allow northbound travelers to access Everard Ave with the removal of the current right turn, especially since ambulances use this road to access Ashford Hospital, more-so once Marleston Road loses access too.

Yes, and thanks for alerting me to this. I had included it in an earlier version, but inadvertantly omitted it from a the final version. I will fix it today.

EDIT: Thinking about it a bit more, the omission was deliberate as I thought it wouldn't be needed so close to the roundabout (which was my last major addition) as I was unaware ambulances accessed Ashford hospital that way. I will reinstate it.

St Mary's Fire Station moving due to access issues: This could easily be solved, if the overpass structure goes far enough south (which wouldn't be much longer than the Emmerson's span), a tunnel could be built for northbound fire trucks to go through. Traffic lights could still be there to stop the local roads' traffic, and there would be a lot less congestion at the intersection for them. For trucks returning to the station going north on South Road, they can just use the U-Turn loop under the bridge, as there's no urgency for them to get back. This could only be a potential issue for the MFS during construction, but I'm sure it could be worked around.

I did consider that option, but I think it would cost more than moving the fire station.

Southern Expressway: This intersection confused me a little. Why is the western bridge taking 2 northbound lanes, which appear to just be for Sturt Road, Flinders Drive and Local South Road, while the median bridge only takes 1 northbound lane, which appears to go onto the new non-stop road? I would think demand would be much high for the non-stop South Road, with the whole Flagstaff Road area using this lane. I would think both lanes on this bridge could serve for northbound,

Nonstop South Road (2 lanes wide) would get one lane of traffic from Main South and Flagstaff roads, and one from the Southern Expressway. If the median bridge took 2 northbound lanes, none of the Southern Expressway lanes would flow into nonstop South Road, so there would be too much weaving traffic.

As well as Sturt Road, Flinders Drive and Local South Road, the western bridge would also take traffic for Ayliffes Road.

and all southbound traffic can stay at ground level, as there are no lights, and this would remove the odd configuration at Flagstaff Road intersection, with traffic turning left from the middle of the road.

That's more like what I originally considered, but it would mean that all traffic from nonstop South Road to Main South Road and Flagstaff Road would have to go through two signalised intersections or force its way through the Ayliffes Road to Southern Expressway traffic.

One more thing, what would you say would be the speed limits in the non-stop road? Is it still 60 as it merges with traffic constantly, or could it be higher?

Probably still 60, though 70 may be a possibility.

[how good is he]

Counted only about 28 properties remain to be demolished with 8 fenced off/being demolished. It will be interesting to see which ones are holding out for more $$$. I know the funeral parlour got a land swap (plus $) and is about to start building new on Port Rd cnr Cator St and will move out when their new place is ready next year.

[neoballmon]

Funeral parlour is on the Eastern side isn't it? And I don't recall them being so close to Port Road that they're being acquired for that. Did they just want out from the construction activity?

[SCF]

Funeral parlour is on the Eastern side isn't it? And I don't recall them being so close to Port Road that they're being acquired for that. Did they just want out from the construction activity?

I believe "how good is he" is talking about Distinctive Funerals. They are at 104 South road which is on the western side between Port and Grange road.

[how good is he]

Correct.

[Vee]

Tender call for early works on North-South Corridor

The Australian and South Australian Governments are getting on with building world class infrastructure by today opening the tender call for two early works projects for the North-South Corridor, Torrens Road to River Torrens Project.

The projects include an $11 million upgrade of the South Road and Richmond Road intersection and an $8.8 million duplication of James Congdon Drive, Mile End South.

The tender includes widening for an additional south bound lane on South Road at the intersection with Richmond Road and the provision of an additional city bound lane on Richmond Road between South Road and Railway Terrace.

In addition to this, James Congdon Drive will be duplicated between South Road and Sir Donald Bradman Drive with an additional right turn lane provided from South Road.

Upon completion, these upgrades will improve capacity and reduce delays for the thousands of motorists that use these sections along South Road every day.

These projects will also ease traffic congestion when major construction works on the Torrens Road to River Torrens Project gets underway in the second half of next year.

Major works on the upgrades are expected to commence in January 2015, and be completed by October 2015, weather permitting.

http://www.premier.sa.gov.au/images/new ... rridor.pdf