An ambitious plan to build 14-kilometre road bridge from Kangaroo Island to the South Australian mainland has been unveiled.
A consortium of local businesses are behind the $5 billion, four-lane proposal, which would include infrastructure to pump fresh water to the island and could include technology to harness wave energy in Backstairs Passage.
The idea has the backing of SA-BEST MP Frank Pangallo, who has hailed it as a nation-building project that would ensure Kangaroo Island reaches its full potential and becomes Australia's top tourist destination.
Universal Bridging Consortium member Jason Semanic, who has extensive experience with large-scale infrastructure projects, has come up with a proposed design.
He said the bridge would transform Kangaroo Island, allowing Adelaide residents to easily travel there for the day like they do to Victor Harbor and the Barossa Valley.
"To borrow a phrase 'build it and they will come' has never been truer with the project we are proposing," he said on Sunday.
The consortium said the bridge would also dramatically cut the cost of goods and services on the island and the travel costs for tourists.
Mr Pangallo said the idea should not be dismissed as "pie-in-the-sky" and called on the state government to fund a feasibility study.
"I am hoping Premier Steven Marshall and his government seriously view this project for the value it would bring and realise the enormous potential it would have for South Australia's economy," he said.
Mr Pangallo said there was potential for the bridge to become "one of the modern wonders of the world", and the state needed to do things to set it apart from the rest of the country."
"A mega-project of this magnitude will take significant time to prepare and approve, but SA needs to start thinking and acting big now," he said.
"This bridge itself would become an instant attraction and be one of the modern wonders of the world."
The consortium said the bridge could be funded by a public-private partnership (PPP), with some costs offset by charging a toll.
The preferred design, modelled on Greece's Rio-Antirron Bridge, would be built south of Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula and span to an area south-east of Penneshaw.
While about 205,000 people currently visit Kangaroo Island each year, Mr Pangallo said studies had shown that the Fleurieu Peninsula has much higher overnight visitation rates because of the ease of accessibility.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/sa-group-ba ... and-bridge
