Sensational-Adelaide.com

Last night I was driving back towards the city from Gawler, and although I have done the drive many times it struck me how well development along Main North Road has been managed. For the entire 17km section of road from Munno Para to Pooraka there are no businesses or residences that have their driveways directly onto Main North Road other than service stations, and even they also have entrances/exits from side roads as well.

Things get messier after Pooraka as you get closer to the city until it becomes just like any other road. It's a shame really, if Main North road stayed the same all the way to the parklands it would be possible to get from Gawler to Adelaide in less than thirty minutes. Obviously at some point a conscious decision was made to plan development along the road carefully, does anyone know when that was? The suburbs closer to the city started building up in a time before the widespread use of the motor vehicle, so it is understandable that the importance of protecting the roads was not recognized. I have to assume that with Elizabeth and surrounds being products of the 1950's the idea emerged there.

I know there will be some dismiss the importance of keeping roads as free flowing as possible as it does contribute to suburban sprawl, but who knows what will be needed thirty or forty years from now. Certainly it is better to have roads like that stretch of Main North Road, which could be relatively cheaply converted to an uninterrupted freeway if needed, than roads like South Road where it costs much more money and causes much more disruption to try and do it later.

The term is "controlled-access road", basically anyone who wishes to connect a road or driveway to such a road needs to apply to the department of transport for permission. Which usually get a reply of as if.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/p ... hp2003537/

Note the years at the top, I've not found anything that predates 1970, and its obvious closer to the city streets and businesses were build before that time.

So basically you're saying places like Northpark and surrounds can get stuffed because you want to get to Gawler 15 minutes faster without resorting to the horrors of public transport.

AtD wrote:So basically you're saying places like Northpark and surrounds can get stuffed because you want to get to Gawler 15 minutes faster without resorting to the horrors of public transport.

Not at all. I'm not proposing the construction of any such thing at this time, the need isn't there for it. The point is that decades from now the room is there for expansion and upgrade if needed on the part of the road I pointed out, whereas in the closer areas to the city such as around Northpark any such upgrades will cost many times more (see South Road as example A). Maybe I tripped you up by posting this in the Visions and Suggestions. I put it here because I thought that section of road was a great example of forward planning and leaving opportunities for the future, not because I had any specific ideas on how it needs changing now.

The roads near the city are built up now, and barring some major unseen development that is how they will stay. I was using them as an example not of things that need to be changed, but as an example of how we wouldn't want the rest of it to become.

As for your attack on me, well everyone knows what they say about assumptions. I actually quite like public transport. Until I recently left my job in the city I caught the train from Mawson Lakes into the CBD every day. I plan on moving to Gawler soon and when that happens will be catching the train to/from Gawler daily.

Last night however I finished work at 5, and had a dinner to be at in Tanunda at 6.30. If you can show me a public transport option that even goes to Tanunda, never mind in 90 minutes or less, I will be surprised. Not only that, but my return was after midnight so even if some train/bus combination did go up there it would have ceased service by the time I needed it. Some times a car is just the only available option.

well you just have too look at Glen Osmond, Fullarton, Green Hill, Unley and Goodwodd rds to see the nightmare that is going to open up.

saying that with the freeway opening up, Main North Road might not need to be what you are expecting it to be

hopefully however Port Wakefield Rd doesn't get too congested.