https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou ... ba2e78a422
Hove businesses fear they will be forced out by a proposed $171 million level crossing upgrade
Hove businesses fear they will be forced out of the area as a result of a proposed $171 million upgrade of the Brighton Road level crossing.
Anxious shop owners and staff are calling on the State Government to finally reveal its plans for the project, which is expected to involve either an overpass or an underpass.
They’ve been in limbo for 18 months after the Federal Government announced in April 2019 that it would provide funding for the upgrade.
The State Government announced in June last year it too would stump up cashfor the project.
The upgrade aims to improve travel times for motorists and increase safety for all users, including pedestrians, by removing the road-rail crossing point.
Bicycle store Bike Society is just metres from the level crossing.
Store manager Matt Tozer said there had been talk about upgrading the level crossing for about 20 years.
“I would just like to know either way if it is going to happen,” he said.
“For us, as a business, if the works start happening our business is going to suffer – Access to our business is going to be non-existent.
“We had plans to renovate our store which are on hold because we don’t know what’s happening.”
Mr Tozer said the shop would not survive in its current location if the project went ahead and it would be forced to relocate.
“We’ve been here for 20-odd years – we don’t want to move,” he said.
Pharmacy 777 Hove owner Mitra Pakrou said “we need to know” what the Government was planning for the upgrade.
“For us, we want it to go under because otherwise it would affect us quite significantly; we will disappear, we won’t be seen, she said.
“It would be incredibly beneficial to know what’s going to happen so we can plan.”
Opposition Transport spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said the Government was “all talk and very little action”.
“In April last year $171 million was allocated to grade separate this intersection here at Hove on Brighton Rd (and) since then nothing has happened,” he said.
“They keep on making big announcements but they don’t actually start the work.”
Mr Koutsantonis urged the Government to reveal what it was planning for the site.
“No one knows if their homes are being acquired – No one knows what’s going on,” he said.
Transport Minister Corey Wingard said the Government was “finalising the design and will be going to public consultation shortly”.
“Tom Koutsantonis is talking rubbish,” he said.
“We’ve been doing the planning work on this important project – The planning work that Labor never bothered to do.
“In the meantime we have more than $1 billion worth of major projects getting underway in the next six months, creating more than 1300 jobs.”
According to the Transport Department’s website, an average of 37,000 vehicles pass through the Hove level crossing every day and the boom gates are down for about 20 per cent of the time during peak morning and afternoon periods.
The website states early works are expected to start in 2021/22.
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