News & Discussion: Other Transport Projects

[Eurostar]

Looking on Google Maps I would say a route could be -

Bald Hills Rd, right Old Princes Hwy, left Nairne-Woodside Rd, right Onkaparinga Valley Rd, left Woodside Rd, right Main St Lobethal, left Cudlee Creek Rd, left Gorge Rd, right Tippett Rd, left North East Rd, left Lower North East Rd to Grand Junction Rd. Definitely alot of curves that would need to be straightened out and bridges widened/strengthened!

Nah you wouldn't turn those sorts of roads into a freeway.

For example you would connect a new freeway just before summit road near Mt Barker Summit, and go between Nairne and Blakiston, then over the right of Oakbank up past Woodside and Lobethal, then tunnel through those hills and come out near Paracombe and connect to GJR.
Then turn GJR into a freeway for about 7km up towards the prisons, where it would go north west between the, follow the alignment and interchange at Salisbury hwy..
If they can acquire property for the NSM they can do it for a short stretch of GJR..
Still think we need a proper motorway ring route through the metro though.

A connection between Gepps Cross and Nairne via Grand Junction Road and hills would give truck drivers an alternative to Portrush Road perhaps HV only in hills, one lane in each direction in the hills part with few overtaking lanes.

[Norman]

Are you taking about using one of the existing roads or a new one? Having a single lane road designated for heavy vehicles through the hills would be pointless, when a truck breaks down the whole system comes to a standstill. It would also be too winding for efficient heavy vehicle movements.

[Bob]

The real answer is to ensure the NS MW has a southern connection point to the SE FW so Mel to Per freight can go through Ade seamlessly and any freight that is Ade-Mel is dealt with on the shortest safest and same route as through Ade-Per freight.

The Short South option is the right concept but clearly there needs to be an agreement in principle negotiated so the next stage of a detailed analysis and eventual plan can be established.

You do not want Adelaide bypassed in the long term nor do you want freight from Mel to Ade doing longer trips via a northern route, and worse, having that freight going through northern suburbia creating the same issue as today, just a different and longer route, the Short North option should be dropped out of any State government consideration.

[Eurostar]

To think maybe the current Murray Bridge area should have been used for site of Adelaide

[rubberman]

To think maybe the current Murray Bridge area should have been used for site of Adelaide

In 1836, a port was essential for a remote new colony. The river was barely navigable all year round before the barrages were installed.

Having said that, Governor Hindmarsh preferred Victor Harbor. That would have sufficed till it ran out of space and water, by which time rail technology would have been sufficiently developed to make connections to Murray Bridge...and Melbourne quite feasible. That would have left the Adelaide Plains, the most fertile in the State, to serve as the food bowl, rather than being built upon and thus lost to agriculture.

It also would have meant rail access to the East and North would have been much faster and easier, along with access to the River Murray for drinking etc, and transport in the early days.

Quite an interesting "what if".

[SBD]

To think maybe the current Murray Bridge area should have been used for site of Adelaide

In 1836, a port was essential for a remote new colony. The river was barely navigable all year round before the barrages were installed.

Having said that, Governor Hindmarsh preferred Victor Harbor. That would have sufficed till it ran out of space and water, by which time rail technology would have been sufficiently developed to make connections to Murray Bridge...and Melbourne quite feasible. That would have left the Adelaide Plains, the most fertile in the State, to serve as the food bowl, rather than being built upon and thus lost to agriculture.

It also would have meant rail access to the East and North would have been much faster and easier, along with access to the River Murray for drinking etc, and transport in the early days.

Quite an interesting "what if".

It is an interesting "what if".

Before the barrages, I'm not sure the river at Murray Bridge was reliably fresh enough to drink for even the size town that was envisaged then.

I wonder what were the key planning, development or other decision points that have led to South Australia having one large city that continues to spread and is much larger than our second-largest. The population of Adelaide is 40 times the size of Mount Gambier.

At some points, there must have been deliberate decisions that have (probably unintentionally) led to our current Adelaide-centric demography, rather than having cities of 50-100,000 at places like Mount Gambier, Whyalla, Murray Bridge, Victor Harbor, Port Lincoln, Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Nuriootpa, Naracoorte, Renmark, Wallaroo, Burra, Kapunda, Clare etc. All of those have or had an industrial base at some stage.

Some have had issues with access to fresh water, transport, food or energy, but many of those issues could have been solved with different infrastructure choices that have served Adelaide instead of somewhere else.

[Hooligan]

I thought Port Lincoln was the other main contender as the site for the SA capital?

[Eurostar]

𝗙𝗹𝗮𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗨𝗽𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲

Flagstaff Road will be closed between Main South Road, Darlington and Bonneyview Road, Flagstaff Hill from 8pm until 5am each night from Monday, 19 April to Friday, 23 April for service relocation works as part of the Flagstaff Road Upgrade Project.

Traffic will be detoured via Main South Road and Black Road (refer to map).

Speed and lane restrictions will be in place in the vicinity of the works.

Local traffic will be permitted to use Flagstaff Road. For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/3am0dJ4

Bus detours will be in place for G20, G21 and 32 services. For more information visit: https://bit.ly/3e9ivhA

(From SA Transport & Infrastructure Facebook Page)

[SouthAussie94]

Designs released for the Mitcham Hills Road Corridor Upgrade - Old Belair Rd / James Rd and Russell St / Main Rd / Sheoak Rd intersections. A concept design for the Shepherds Hill Rd / Brighton Pde / Waite St intersection is due in mid this year.

https://dit.sa.gov.au/infrastructure/ro ... or_upgrade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eZhAFkYrAM

James Road Roundabout has been put on hold.

https://indaily.com.au/news/local/2022/ ... linkin.bio

[ralmin]

I think I'm one of the only people who selfishly wanted the James Road roundabout to go ahead. Back in pre-COVID times when I had a morning commute, it would have made my morning commute faster. When turning right from James Road onto Old Belair Road towards the city, the roundabout would mean only having to give way to southbound traffic coming up Old Belair Road, not giving way to the main flow of traffic northbound going down Old Belair Road.

However I do recognise the roundabout solution was not great for road safety. The zip merge of northbound through traffic from Old Belair Road with northbound from James Road would have resulted in more chance of collisions. And the increased flow through this section would still hit a bottleneck at the next roundabout at Blythewood Road, potentially so much so that traffic could back up the hill all the way to the new James Road intersection.

I also used to ride my bike to work down these roads. I have been advocating for a safer bike route, ideally paved, off-road and not so steep as to be unridable (like the Lynton one). The roundabout design had a crossing that would allow mountain bike riders to access the trail head, but that is no good for road cyclists like myself. The roundabout design wouldn't do much for road cyclist safety. Some might take the slower, safer option of using the crossings to get across to the through lane, coming down on the left side when hitting the zip merge, but I think most would use the roundabout and hit the zip merge from the right side - faster but less safe.

[rev]

To think maybe the current Murray Bridge area should have been used for site of Adelaide

In 1836, a port was essential for a remote new colony. The river was barely navigable all year round before the barrages were installed.

Having said that, Governor Hindmarsh preferred Victor Harbor. That would have sufficed till it ran out of space and water, by which time rail technology would have been sufficiently developed to make connections to Murray Bridge...and Melbourne quite feasible. That would have left the Adelaide Plains, the most fertile in the State, to serve as the food bowl, rather than being built upon and thus lost to agriculture.

It also would have meant rail access to the East and North would have been much faster and easier, along with access to the River Murray for drinking etc, and transport in the early days.

Quite an interesting "what if".

Wow never knew that.
I've pondered the "what if Adelaide was in X place instead"..Goolwa/Hindmarsh island out towards Finnis, Currency Creek, Milang and Clayton Bay..
Dredged the waterways, a CBD located where Goolwa North is, the City spilling across onto the western point of Hindmarsh Island with high rise apartments...Lake Alexandrina and the beaches of the Coorong on our door step..towns dotted around the shore of the lake.

[SBD]

To think maybe the current Murray Bridge area should have been used for site of Adelaide

In 1836, a port was essential for a remote new colony. The river was barely navigable all year round before the barrages were installed.

Having said that, Governor Hindmarsh preferred Victor Harbor. That would have sufficed till it ran out of space and water, by which time rail technology would have been sufficiently developed to make connections to Murray Bridge...and Melbourne quite feasible. That would have left the Adelaide Plains, the most fertile in the State, to serve as the food bowl, rather than being built upon and thus lost to agriculture.

It also would have meant rail access to the East and North would have been much faster and easier, along with access to the River Murray for drinking etc, and transport in the early days.

Quite an interesting "what if".

Wow never knew that.
I've pondered the "what if Adelaide was in X place instead"..Goolwa/Hindmarsh island out towards Finnis, Currency Creek, Milang and Clayton Bay..
Dredged the waterways, a CBD located where Goolwa North is, the City spilling across onto the western point of Hindmarsh Island with high rise apartments...Lake Alexandrina and the beaches of the Coorong on our door step..towns dotted around the shore of the lake.

Many other places don't have just one huge city that draws everyone in. Various planning policies at times over the last 200 years have led to that situation here. We could have had large cities separate from Adelaide at Mount Gambier, Renmark/Berri, Murray Bridge/Monarto, Elizabeth, Port Pirie, Whyalla, Port Lincoln. They could all have fast regional rail for both passengers and freight between the cities (including Adelaide). Most of them could be large enough to have a multidiscipline campus of a university, a range of industry to provide a viable diversity of employment etc. Instead, we have concentrated everything on a large sprawling Adelaide and drained much of the urban vibrancy from most of the others.

[Norman]

The Marion Council is engaging with the community on upgrading Raglan Avenue between the Seaford Line and Towers Terrace. The main changes are more trees, raingardens and permeable paving to better protect the area from flash flooding.

This ties in with the upgrade of Raglan Avenue on the other side of the Seaford Line, which is being managed by DIT.

More details: https://www.makingmarion.com.au/raglan- ... treetscape

[ml69]

In 1836, a port was essential for a remote new colony. The river was barely navigable all year round before the barrages were installed.

Having said that, Governor Hindmarsh preferred Victor Harbor. That would have sufficed till it ran out of space and water, by which time rail technology would have been sufficiently developed to make connections to Murray Bridge...and Melbourne quite feasible. That would have left the Adelaide Plains, the most fertile in the State, to serve as the food bowl, rather than being built upon and thus lost to agriculture.

It also would have meant rail access to the East and North would have been much faster and easier, along with access to the River Murray for drinking etc, and transport in the early days.

Quite an interesting "what if".

Wow never knew that.
I've pondered the "what if Adelaide was in X place instead"..Goolwa/Hindmarsh island out towards Finnis, Currency Creek, Milang and Clayton Bay..
Dredged the waterways, a CBD located where Goolwa North is, the City spilling across onto the western point of Hindmarsh Island with high rise apartments...Lake Alexandrina and the beaches of the Coorong on our door step..towns dotted around the shore of the lake.

Many other places don't have just one huge city that draws everyone in. Various planning policies at times over the last 200 years have led to that situation here. We could have had large cities separate from Adelaide at Mount Gambier, Renmark/Berri, Murray Bridge/Monarto, Elizabeth, Port Pirie, Whyalla, Port Lincoln. They could all have fast regional rail for both passengers and freight between the cities (including Adelaide). Most of them could be large enough to have a multidiscipline campus of a university, a range of industry to provide a viable diversity of employment etc. Instead, we have concentrated everything on a large sprawling Adelaide and drained much of the urban vibrancy from most of the others.

All well in theory.
But in reality even if Adelaide was located at Victor Harbor or Port Lincoln or wherever, most likely it would have just sprawled and become one dominant city in SA anyway. Look at the other state capitals in Aus, they’ve become the dominant city in their respective states.

[ml69]

To think maybe the current Murray Bridge area should have been used for site of Adelaide

In 1836, a port was essential for a remote new colony. The river was barely navigable all year round before the barrages were installed.

Having said that, Governor Hindmarsh preferred Victor Harbor. That would have sufficed till it ran out of space and water, by which time rail technology would have been sufficiently developed to make connections to Murray Bridge...and Melbourne quite feasible. That would have left the Adelaide Plains, the most fertile in the State, to serve as the food bowl, rather than being built upon and thus lost to agriculture.

It also would have meant rail access to the East and North would have been much faster and easier, along with access to the River Murray for drinking etc, and transport in the early days.

Quite an interesting "what if".

Wow never knew that.
I've pondered the "what if Adelaide was in X place instead"..Goolwa/Hindmarsh island out towards Finnis, Currency Creek, Milang and Clayton Bay..
Dredged the waterways, a CBD located where Goolwa North is, the City spilling across onto the western point of Hindmarsh Island with high rise apartments...Lake Alexandrina and the beaches of the Coorong on our door step..towns dotted around the shore of the lake.

Very interesting to speculate. I just had a look at a map of the area, and assuming the CBD is where Goolwa North is now (and assuming Adelaide is about the same size as it currently is), we would have shoreline and water frontage exceeding that of Sydney Harbour. Adelaide would be a vastly different city to what it is now.