Main South Road

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:34): My electorate is a fantastic community and has one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. However, being on the edge of the city does mean that transport is always a very topical issue, and one of the most important issues in my local electorate is Main South Road between Seaford and Aldinga. This issue has been raised with me many times, and I have continued to raise it with various ministers in the four years since I was preselected as a candidate, and it is one that I continue to raise on behalf of the community to this day, together with my fellow local MP the member for Mawson, who is also a very strong advocate for roads in the area.

There are three significant issues that have been identified with the road: firstly, the safety; secondly, the capacity; and, thirdly, the road surface. Safety is obviously the most important issue and it has, sadly, been the most tragic. This is a section of road that has suffered far too many fatalities and serious road injuries. There was a tragic fatality only a few weeks ago. That is why over the past couple of years the transport department has undertaken a major traffic management study, looking at the whole section of road between Sellicks Beach and Seaford and considering the safety of every intersection and all the crash data from along that journey.

This process was undertaken with public input, discussion with local community groups and extensive work and consultation with the City of Onkaparinga. The report, which is publicly available, identifies three priority sections that need modifications: firstly, the Port Road intersection, including the overtaking lane up to Malpas Road; secondly, the Aldinga Beach Road intersection; and, thirdly, the Tatachilla Road-Maslin Beach Road intersection.

Following the release of this report, the government committed $11 million, which has been allocated to undertake significant safety upgrades on this section of road, from Port Road to Malpas Road, which was identified as the most urgent issue and where, sadly, a number of serious accidents have occurred. I thank, in particular, the Minister for Transport, the Minister for Road Safety and the previous minister for road safety for their commitment to this funding.

This project will involve the installation of a large roundabout at Port Road, which addresses a lot of the dangers with right-hand turns at that intersection, with road widening, safety barriers and resurfacing of the section of road, including the overtaking lanes, up to Malpas Road. That work identifies that there have been a significant number of head-on collisions that have occurred through that section. This will address the most urgent of those priority sections, with those other priority sections to be addressed in future funding rounds.

The second issue for the road is capacity. A large number of people have moved into the Aldinga and Sellicks Beach areas over the past decade, and this has obviously increased the traffic and the utilisation of this road. That is why the state government has identified the road between Seaford and Aldinga as requiring an extension to a dual lane road in the future as part of the Integrated Transport and Land Use Plan. That is to be completed as traffic on the road increases.

As the local member, I certainly continue to advocate to all ministers, across the government and officials that this needs to be a more urgent upgrade than would otherwise necessarily be the case. The only question is the timing of this. This is in our government plan to be upgraded, and I will continue to work with local residents that it should be sooner rather than later. Certainly, the current widening of the road project will be one of the first steps towards the full reality of a wider, safer Main South Road, as per the state transport plan.

The third issue is the road surface of this area. This is a section of road that undulates and, sadly, deteriorates over time, given the soil quality in the area. Because of that, the government, the Transport Minister and his department have spent millions of dollars over the last few years on upgrading and resurfacing that section of road, which continues to need to be done from time to time as that deterioration occurs due to the soil quality in the area. The community are thankful for that, but we will continue to advocate for that to continue to happen in the future.

The other important thing to say is that it is not just Main South Road that is an issue in the area. There are also a significant number of council roads that I will continue to advocate need to be upgraded, the major of those being Old Coach Road, between Maslin Beach and Aldinga. There are also a number of local council roads, including Aldinga Beach Road, Aldinga Road, How Road, Norman Road and the Esplanade, that have also been raised with me. Sadly, there will be some councillors that only want to talk about state roads, but I will continue to advocate on behalf of all the roads in the Aldinga area.