North–South Corridor, Adelaide
| North–South Connector South Australia |
|
|---|---|
| South Road Underpass beneath Anzac Highway | |
| General information | |
| Type | Road |
| Length | 107 km (66 mi) |
| Route number(s) |  National Highway M20 |
| Major junctions | |
| South end |  Main South Road (A13), Old Noarlunga, Adelaide |
| North end |  Sturt Highway (National Highway A20), Nuriootpa, South Australia |
| Location(s) | |
| Major suburbs | Bedford Park, Black Forest, Glandore, Angle Park, Globe Derby Park, Bolivar, Waterloo Corner, Virginia, Penfield, Andrews Farm, Angle Vale, Gawler |
The North–South Connector is a route through Adelaide, South Australia that will be one continuous link from Old Noarlunga in the outer southern metropolitan Adelaide suburbs through to Nuriootpa in the inner northern rural area around the Barossa Valley, a distance of over 100 km, aiming to be without a single stop by 2030.
The route comprises a number of major road links in the metro area, from the Southern Expressway, to South Road, to the elevated North-South Motorway/South Road Superway, to the in-progress Northern Connector, to the Northern Expressway and ending with the continuation of the rural Sturt Highway in the north.
Contents
Road links
By 2030, all of these major road links (listed South–North) are proposed to have been completed, thus making a major route through the Adelaide metropolitan area a much more efficient way to travel. Its expected to take only one hour to travel from Noarlunga in the South to Gawler in the North.
The components identified by the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure are:[1]
- Southern Expressway (complete)
- Darlington Upgrade Project (under construction)[2]
- Anzac Highway to Darlington
- Glenelg Tram Overpass (complete)
- Anzac Highway Gallipoli Underpass (complete)
- River Torrens to Anzac Highway
- Torrens Road to River Torrens Project (under construction)
- Regency Park to Torrens Road
- South Road Superway (complete)
- Northern Connector Project (under construction)
- Northern Expressway (complete)
The government has a strategy to deliver the complete project in ten years from May 2015.[3]
Southern Expressway
The Southern Expressway, 21 km, which originally opened stages 1 and 2 in 1997 and 2001 respectively, as a one way, freeway standard road, which was closed for an hour twice a day, and reversed direction to match peak traffic flow; open northwards (towards city) weekday mornings and weekend afternoons, and open southwards (away from city) weekday afternoons and weekend mornings. Duplication of the Expressway began in 2011, with the construction of a second carriageway making the expressway operate in both directions, 24 hours a day. The expressway opened for two-way traffic on 3 August 2014.[4]
The Southern Expressway southern end is at Main South Road, Old Noarlunga. Northbound has free-flowing entry onto the roadway, whereas southbound travellers have a set of traffic lights to exit the expressway. Heading south after the expressway, Victor Harbor can be accessed with 1 additional set of traffic lights, and Cape Jervis is only 3 more sets of lights.
The expressway terminates in the north at Main South Road in Bedford Park, where for both northbound (off expressway) and southbound (onto expressway), this is controlled by traffic lights. The duplication kept this location controlled by lights, but there is planning underway for a Darlington Interchange (see below), which will remove these traffic lights.
South Road
Darlington Interchange
In 2010, it was announced that an interchange would be built in Darlington, to provide better access to the Southern Expressway, as well as Flinders Medical Centre, Sturt Road and Ayliffes Road. This project was the basis for the Southern Expressway getting the go-ahead for duplication, but then in 2011, this project was scrapped, due to budget issues.
The plan was revived in 2014,[5] with early works commencing late in 2014 for an expected completion in 2018.[6]
A joint venture ("Gateway South") of Fulton Hogan and Laing O'Rourke was awarded the major works contract for the project in January 2016. The scope was expanded from earlier plans and will now upgrade 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) of Main South Road by creating a lowered non-stop road with surface-level service roads. There will be three lanes each way connecting from the Southern Expressway and the lowered road, which will pass underneath Flinders Drive (access to Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre), Sturt Road, a bridge connecting Mimosa Terrace (Clovelly Park) and Sutton Road (Bedford Park) mainly for local traffic, grade separation at the Ayliffes Road and Shepherds Hill Road junction, and at Tonsley Boulevard. It will also provide separate cycling and pedestrian paths on each side of the corridor. A separate Flinders Link project is still under consideration to extend the Tonsley railway line across this corridor to a new Flinders station.[7]
South Road – Anzac Highway to Darlington
Although this section is intended to be upgraded before 2030, As of 2016[update] there are no detailed plans for the area yet.[8] Issues with this section include the intersection of South and Daws Roads in St Marys and the 5 intersections within less than a kilometre around Castle Plaza in Edwardstown. The Gallipoli Underpass at Anzac Highway which is only considered an interim solution, and the grade separated junction at Cross Road which includes the Seaford railway line are anticipated to be upgraded separately in advance of the rest of this section of road.[3]:16
Emerson Overpass
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Between 1982 and 1984, the Emerson Crossing was built, taking South Road over Cross Road and the Seaford railway line. For a long time, this was the only grade separation on South Road, and one of very few in South Australia, removing congestion with Cross Road traffic and the railway line. Increasing frequency of commuter trains are resulting in vehicle bottlenecks that are anticipated to worsen as queues on the exit ramps to Cross Road can extend into the through lanes on South Road. The rail crossing could be closed for up to 20 minutes in the peak hour.[3]:54
Gallipoli Underpass
In 2005, along with the decision to make a free flowing South Road, a decision was made to build an underpass for South Road to go under Anzac Highway. Construction of this started in 2007, and it was named the Gallipoli Underpass, in line with the ANZAC theme. The underpass opened in March 2009, and to cut down on delays due to construction, an overpass was also built within the same time frame for the Glenelg Tram line just half a kilometre to the south, which also opened in 2009, significantly removing delays from this area.
River Torrens to Anzac Highway
This section has within it some of the busiest intersections in Outer Adelaide, as it goes directly past the city. It includes intersections with Henley Beach Road and Sir Donald Bradman Drive.
Torrens Road to River Torrens Project
Around 2007, there were plans to construct a tunnel under Grange Road, Port Road and the Outer Harbor railway line, and construction was to start after the underpass had finished, but these plans were later scrapped. In 2013 the State Labor government in partnership with the Federal Labor government announced an upgrade from Torrens Road to the Torrens River, upgrading approximately 4 km. The upgrade would feature a new, lowered road under Grange and Port Roads. This will provide a non-stop route through the area for passing traffic and reduce delays to east-west travel. A parallel surface road along the length of the lowered road to connect the majority of local roads and arterial roads to South Road as they do now and a rail overpass of South Road for the Outer Harbor line to ensure the service doesn't interrupt traffic along the new route. Construction started in 2015, with the project expected to be completed by the end of 2018.[9][10]
The project work was extended in December 2015 to include an underpass of Torrens Road, at no additional project cost or time.[11]
Regency Park to Torrens Road
The remaining section will have two traffic light intersections (including Regency Road), and some minor side streets between the Torrens-to-Torrens project and the elevated Superway.
North-South Motorway
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In 2009, an announcement was made to build an $812million elevated roadway above South Road known as the South Road Superway during construction, from just north of Regency Road to the end of South Road where it joins to the Port River Expressway and Salisbury Highway. The 2.8 km elevated roadway rises just north of Taminga Street, Regency Park and goes over Days Road, before access ramps at Grand Junction Road, then continues over Cormack Road and the Dry Creek railway line to join the intersection of the Port River Expressway, Salisbury Highway and in the future, the Northern Connector. The Motorway opened in early 2014.
Northern Connector
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The Northern Connector is another proposed link in the North–South Corridor. It will join to the interchange in Dry Creek with the South Road Superway, Salisbury Highway and Port River Expressway. This interchange will be completely free flowing for all directions, keeping with the free-flowing plan of South Road. The connector will be an alternate route to Port Wakefield Road and the Max Fatchen Expressway, without the traffic light intersections of Port Wakefield Road. It will have interchanges in the suburbs Bolivar and Waterloo Corner, and connect to the Northern Expressway in Virginia.[12]
Max Fatchen Expressway
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The Northern Expressway opened in September 2010 and was subsequently named the Max Fatchen Expressway, as the longest new road project in South Australia for a number of decades. The 4 lane highway extends from Port Wakefield Road, North West through 5 interchanges in Penfield (2 interchanges), Andrews Farm, Angle Vale and Gawler River to where it joins the Sturt Highway just outside Gawler.
Sturt Highway
The Sturt Highway continues the North-South Corridor to Nuriootpa as a dual carriageway road with the second carriageway added between 2007 and 2009, providing a total of two lanes in each direction. The Sturt Highway continues beyond Nuriootpa as just one lane each way. The next major bottleneck is the town of Truro which has the highway as its main street. A bypass is proposed in 5 to 15 years from the 2015 integrated plan.[13]
See also
References
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