[U/C] M2 North-South Motorway

[ghs]

One thing is for sure, they need to do something about the bottleneck between the brickworks and Thebarton theatre.

If you’re heading south thru this area, there’s a lot of traffic built up due to a lot of cars coming off the motorway.

I am sick to death of it !

[Nort]

One thing is for sure, they need to do something about the bottleneck between the brickworks and Thebarton theatre.

If you’re heading south thru this area, there’s a lot of traffic built up due to a lot of cars coming off the motorway.

I am sick to death of it !

That section is where there will be a tunnel, so you're going to be sick to death for a few years yet.

[HiTouch]

One thing is for sure, they need to do something about the bottleneck between the brickworks and Thebarton theatre.

If you’re heading south thru this area, there’s a lot of traffic built up due to a lot of cars coming off the motorway.

I am sick to death of it !

Calm down it's not that bad. You should be thankful that you have a car at least.

[1NEEDS2POST]

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou ... 016666?amp

PM announced funding today along with Premier to complete the NS Corridor (ie stage 2 (northern part) of the Torrens to Darlington section) - $2.26bn.

Not sure how many of the included pictures are new ones though.

pic1.jpg

Why does South Road northbound rise up like that? There's nothing to rise over.

Because the corridor north of Ashwin Parade is too narrow, so the northbound surface road will go up onto the overpass directly over the northbound motorway which will rise to use the ground level road already in place.

Once the motorway goes over the River Torrens they’re able to acquire UrbanStone and a few properties to widen the corridor to meet the existing T2T.

Thanks for the explanation.

[A-Town]

Construction pushed back by another year while elevated roadways could be removed entirely from the project

State government to push back Torrens to Darlington budget expenditure after review finds ‘overly optimistic and unrealistic’ timeline

Elevated roadways would be lowered or removed entirely from the Torrens to Darlington project under a plan proposed by Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis, after a review identified an “overly optimistic and unrealistic” timeline set by the previous government to complete the new road.

A significantly adjusted schedule for expenditure on the project is set to be revealed in next week’s state budget, while the projected completion date has been pushed out by 12 months.
The review, undertaken by the Transport Department after Labor took government, outlined shortcomings in the planning of the project and led the department to advise “cashflows included in previous budgets could never have been achieved”.

Mr Koutsantonis has accused the previous government of drawing up timelines “purely to meet an election timeframe”, and leading South Australians to believe the project was on track.
“That’s simply not the case,” he said.

He said the government intends to keep most of the current design but will investigate ways to minimise the elevated roadway at Anzac Hwy and remove the one at West Hindmarsh, adjacent to the Brickworks – both of which had been controversial with local communities.

At the time a full reference design for the project was revealed last November, the former Liberal government said the West Hindmarsh section of road would be elevated 11m to retain local heritage sites.

A report prepared after the review, seen by The Advertiser, revealed there had been inadequate consideration and development of options which could have reduced the “visual impact” of the elevated roadways.

Mr Koutsantonis said the review did not identify any immediate changes to the number and location of properties acquired for the project, but could not rule out further acquisitions in future. A total of 393 properties have been flagged for acquisition under the current design.

Initial advice suggests construction on the project will now begin in 2024 instead of 2023 as initially announced, and completion is more likely in 2031 rather than 2030.

The total project budget of $9.9bn remains unchanged but the funding timeline has been substantially pushed back, with spending over the four years of the forward estimates revised down from $4.3bn included in the Liberals’ 2021-22 state budget to $3.2bn.

Mr Koutsantonis dismissed suggestions the revised timeline was an attempt to alleviate pressure on the state budget and instead direct money toward funding the government’s $1.2bn of health commitments made before the election.

“Our spending on health is operational and capital ... this is all capital,” he said.

“This is not about trying to save money. If everything was ready we would go ahead as planned.”

He said the state government had received assurances from the federal government that Commonwealth funding commitments for the project would remain unchanged.

The review also found critical tenders for the project had not been sufficiently developed to meet the procurement timeline, and the location and number of entry and exit points to the road had not been adequately considered.

“(It) has exposed the former government’s timelines were unrealistic and drawn up purely to meet an election timeframe,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“On any reasonable reading of the advice given to me, the former government’s statements about how quickly tenders could be issued simply couldn’t be believed.”

It is understood there have been changes of senior personnel working on the project and Susana Fueyo, who had been working as North-South Corridor executive director, finished in the role after the election.

Torrens to Darlington is a 10.5km stretch of non-stop motorway between the River Torrens and Darlington, which includes nearly 7km of tunnels.

It is last section of the North-South Corridor which, when complete, will form a 78km, non-stop road between Gawler and Old Noarlunga.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou ... fa4c780d2e

[SBD]

New senior staff in the department review the work signed off by former senior staff who left after the election, using revised criteria set by the member for West Torrens, and decide that it can't be done as quickly as previously proposed with the changes requested for both northern tunnel portals. The work is quite possibly done by the same mid-level public servants both times.

Having the tunnels continue under the river to meet the trench would be nice, but still needs exit and entrances somewhere in that area, which would be much more complex with more surface works to fit in if it connects to the underground section.

[rev]

This is a critical piece of infrastructure, that should transcend party politics.
Yet again the petty party politics and useless political establishment in this state delays a key infrastructure project. What a surprise.

Unrealistic time frame? No, the real reasons are that they need money to fund something else, probably something they promised in the election hence them pushing funding back, and that they want to change the plans from what the Liberal government had drawn up - which it even says.

Hmm, now it's going to start in 2024 not next year. So, if it does start then and they don't find any more excuses to delay it and blame the previous government, it will be 2 years into construction when the next election comes around in 2026. I'm sure we wont hear about it at all during their campaigning.

Tax payers/voters lose out yet again while Labor and Liberal play their childish back and forth on our key infrastructure.

[rogue]

Having the tunnels continue under the river to meet the trench would be nice, but still needs exit and entrances somewhere in that area, which would be much more complex with more surface works to fit in if it connects to the underground section.

100% agree.
Not sure why motorway entry and exits couldnt ramp up / down to surface level between Grange Road and a potential tunnel portal north of the Torrens River.
Plenty of space between the surface level road and sunken motorway to cut through.

[ChillyPhilly]

This is a critical piece of infrastructure, that should transcend party politics.
Yet again the petty party politics and useless political establishment in this state delays a key infrastructure project. What a surprise.

Unrealistic time frame? No, the real reasons are that they need money to fund something else, probably something they promised in the election hence them pushing funding back, and that they want to change the plans from what the Liberal government had drawn up - which it even says.

Hmm, now it's going to start in 2024 not next year. So, if it does start then and they don't find any more excuses to delay it and blame the previous government, it will be 2 years into construction when the next election comes around in 2026. I'm sure we wont hear about it at all during their campaigning.

Tax payers/voters lose out yet again while Labor and Liberal play their childish back and forth on our key infrastructure.

While I agree in principle, I think Koutsantonis is just looking after his electorate by trying to reduce visual impact (the stretch along/adjacent to the Brickworks).

[SBD]

This is a critical piece of infrastructure, that should transcend party politics.
Yet again the petty party politics and useless political establishment in this state delays a key infrastructure project. What a surprise.

Unrealistic time frame? No, the real reasons are that they need money to fund something else, probably something they promised in the election hence them pushing funding back, and that they want to change the plans from what the Liberal government had drawn up - which it even says.

Hmm, now it's going to start in 2024 not next year. So, if it does start then and they don't find any more excuses to delay it and blame the previous government, it will be 2 years into construction when the next election comes around in 2026. I'm sure we wont hear about it at all during their campaigning.

Tax payers/voters lose out yet again while Labor and Liberal play their childish back and forth on our key infrastructure.

While I agree in principle, I think Koutsantonis is just looking after his electorate by trying to reduce visual impact (the stretch along/adjacent to the Brickworks).

He is, but what is the serious visual pollution in that area? So there's an elevated roadway next to a shopping centre with no windows, some warehouses and a cemetery. There are a few houses on Torrens Avenue, but I suspect they are the ones potentially acquired anyway. The noise pollution from a free-flowing roadway, even if elevated might still be less than the noise of the at-grade stop-start traffic they have now.

I thought the original (Labor) plan had the corridor completed in 10 years from about 2015, with no bored tunnels. It is still on the DIT website at https://www.dit.sa.gov.au/__data/assets ... rategy.pdf Page 26 (page 40 of the PDF) identifies a constraint that there would be an Elevated structure over the River Torrens to allow a narrower footprint and enables clearance to the adjacent shopping and community
centres. It had short cut-and-cover tunnels near Henley Beach Road and Sir Donald Bradman Drive.

[Jaymz]

I think it's obvious this is a nothing more than a money grab, delaying spending by a year to free up money for other election promises. Also buys them time to tinker the books again over the next couple of budgets. Not very well disguised, even by Kouts low standards. He is clearly in over his head with a project of this scale, actually, of any scale.

[greenknight]

Advertiser has another article out today... anyone got a copy?

[Eurostar]

I do wonder how Thebarton Theatre will withstand vibrations from passing vehicles in the tunnel or vice versa if a loud concert was played at Thebarton Theatre and vibrated the foundations of the tunnel?

I recall the main goal was to create a non stop journey from Gawler to Old Noarlunga. Does it necessarily have to be under South Road?

Could it either....

Option 1: deviate from Thebarton, go underground and go to the east where it could go underneath the Seaford Line then Goodwood Road/Fiveash Drive/Ayfilles Road then come up to surface.

Option 2: deviate from Thebarton, go underground and go to the west where it could then go underneath Marion Road corridor then come up to surface after Sturt Road.

Option 2

[muzzamo]

I recall the main goal was to create a non stop journey from Gawler to Old Noarlunga. Does it necessarily have to be under South Road?

No but the conceptual design activity/study is *well* into the past now. They have spent tens of millions of dollars up to this point in planning the overall route. Where it's planned is considered the best option.

[ChillyPhilly]

It's following the original South Road because of the land uses that existing South Road serves.