Parliamentary Committees

Public Works Committee: North-South Corridor Regency Road to Pym Street Project

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:28): I move:

That the 10^th report of the committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled North-South Corridor Regency Road to Pym Street Project, be noted.

The north-south corridor is the major route for north and southbound traffic in Adelaide and runs 78 kilometres between Gawler and Old Noarlunga. Mr Speaker, you will be closely familiar with that corridor, as I am sure will other members of this house, and no doubt many of us have travelled it in our own time.

This project involves the design and construction of a new 1.8-kilometre section of nonstop motorway along South Road between Regency Road and Pym Street. When finished, the project will complete a 47-kilometre nonstop motorway between Gawler and the River Torrens. Fifty per cent of the funding for the project will come from the state government and 50 per cent from the commonwealth government. The project will address an existing traffic bottleneck which involves congestion and delays, particularly at the South Road and Regency Road intersection. The estimated total cost of the project is $354.3 million, and it is anticipated that it will be completed in 2022.

The Public Works Committee has examined written and oral evidence in relation to the project, and the committee has been assured by Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure officials that acquittals have been received from the Department of Treasury and Finance, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and the Crown Solicitor that the works and procedures are lawful.

The committee is satisfied that the proposal has been subject to the appropriate agency and consultation oversight and meets the criteria for examination of projects as described in the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991. Based on the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee recommends the scope of the proposed public works.

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (11:31): I rise to speak on this report, being a member of the Public Works Committee as well. The report examines the history of the proposal and the efficacy of the application of South Australian taxpayer funds to the north-south corridor in the section from Regency Road to Pym Street.

The north-south corridor is one of Adelaide's most important transport corridors. It is the major route for northbound and southbound traffic and runs for a total distance of 78 kilometres from Gawler to Old Noarlunga. There has been significant work done on that, such that by the end of 2019, with the Northern Expressway already being completed, the Northern Connector due for completion in late 2019 and the South Road Superway as well as the Torrens Road to River Torrens Project, it will create a continuous motorway from Gawler to the River Torrens, five kilometres west of the Adelaide CBD, except for that one small section of South Road between Regency Road and Pym Street.

Of course, we would all understand that this would create a bottleneck going from that smooth-flowing Northern Expressway and arriving at that bottleneck section, resulting in congestion, delays and unreliability, particularly at the South Road-Regency Road intersection. The actual project itself will include the design and construction of this new 1.8-kilometre section. It will be nonstop along South Road, again, with the end goal of having nonstop traffic flow for the whole 78 kilometres.

The new Regency Road to Pym Street motorway will connect the completed motorway sections, as I said, to the north of Regency Road, being the South Road Superway, through to the recently completed motorway section, the Torrens Road to River Torrens Project, which terminates just north of Torrens Road.

On completion of this small section, the project will complete a 47-kilometre nonstop motorway between Gawler and the River Torrens. That leaves the final section, which we have spoken about in this chamber before, possibly the trickiest element of the whole envisaged project. Nonetheless, this is an important step in the long-term vision for South Road.

In May 2018, the commonwealth and state governments announced a joint funding commitment to the Regency Road to Pym Street project, and we have heard the Minister for Planning, Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government outline how one of his very first actions, once he became a minister, was to set about repairing the relationship between the federal government and the state government. This announcement, made in May, was one example of that.

The estimated total cost of the project is $354.3 million, and it is expected to be completed by 2022. As I mentioned, the project will be jointly funded on a fifty-fifty basis by the commonwealth and state governments. It really forms part of an overall commitment to deliver the nonstop, north-south corridor, which has been endorsed by Infrastructure Australia as a priority project on its national Infrastructure Priority List.

At the time of the announcement in May, there was some criticism by those opposite about the fifty-fifty deal and that somehow South Australia should have done better than this, that the fifty-fifty arrangement, which in metropolitan is standard, is somehow inappropriate and maybe we should have gone for a bigger funding model, say 80:20, when at the same time the Torrens to Torrens stretch immediately south was at fifty-fifty as well.

Really, the deal done by the minister was about getting things moving. As I said, the federal government was prepared to put $177 million on the table, so this government, a grown-up government, matched it to deliver this 1.8-kilometre link. Realistically, this is what motorists want. They do not want grandstanding, beating your chest and saying that we could have done an 80:20 deal. They wanted the construction to commence so that it could be finished by 2022 to alleviate congestion, and that is what this project seeks to do.

In fact, there are many key aims for this project. One is to provide an important piece of infrastructure as part of Adelaide's nonstop north-south corridor, and another is to protect and provide freight priority consistent with the National Land Transport Network link. This is productive infrastructure that will benefit many businesses throughout Adelaide. It will help reduce congestion on the road network, thereby improving travel time, and help reliability and vehicle operating costs along Adelaide's north-south corridor. It is not only for freight but for all road users as they go about their business, whether it is on their way to work or on their way home from work or leisure.

The project will also aim to significantly improve safety and travel efficiency with the north-south, nonstop free-flow roadway and, at the same time, look to minimise where practically possible impacts to the travelling public, their business operations and the wider community during construction. It involves 1.8 kilometres of existing road, so it does necessitate disruption and trying to ameliorate that as best as possible.

We also need to maintain local access for the community. We do not want this being a big divide between either side of the road. We want there still to be a connection for the community so they can move through this and it does not become a physical barrier, as some older designs tend to do—not so much in road but in rail or in stormwater infrastructure. Another aim is to take into account community and stakeholder needs and expectations and, as I said, to keep them using and connected. These works also aim to help achieve strategic outcomes and objectives for the South Australian and Australian governments.

Another benefit and outcome this project is expected to provide is, as I said, a continuous 47-kilometre nonstop section of the north-south corridor between Gawler and the River Torrens. The expected travel time saving, which I mentioned before, is up to eight minutes during peak periods, which is quite significant for a stretch of 1.8 kilometres. There will also be, on average, a saving of 4.5 minutes at other times, during non-peak, on South Road between Regency Road and Pym Street. It certainly will avoid north-south delays at the two signalised junctions. In the report, it is envisaged that there will be an overpass over Regency Road, at the Regency Road and South Road intersection.

Some of the other sections of upgrades feature underpasses. Anzac Highway has South Road being an underpass. In terms of other benefits, it will certainly provide efficient and reliable travel, promote active travel, link communities together and provide a safer road network for all road users, not only drivers but also passengers, motor cyclists, cyclists and pedestrians. It will certainly allow more efficient access to and from the key freight areas of the National Land Transport Network in Port Adelaide.

We spoke yesterday about the significant investment that the federal government is putting into the naval shipbuilding industry—$90 billion—and the effects that will have on employment. The ability to bring in businesses from all over Adelaide, not just the Port Adelaide/Osborne region, will rely heavily on this north-south corridor. It will certainly generate confidence in the business community as well.

In the last minute I have available, I point out that the breakdown of the proposed expenditure has some land acquisition costs of $39 million, construction of $299 million and project and contract management of $16 million, with peak spending of $141.1 million in 2021. In summary, the Public Works Committee will continue to monitor the progress of the north-south corridor Regency Road to Pym Street project as required. Based on the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament—which we are doing here now—that it recommends the proposed public work.

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (11:41): I, too, rise to note and support the adoption of the north-south corridor Regency Road to Pym Street project consisting of part of the north-south corridor. I will not labour the points already made by the member for Morphett regarding the minutiae of the project itself. Suffice to say, it will complete, as he has already outlined, a 47-kilometre nonstop motorway between Gawler and the River Torrens.

Mr PATTERSON: Point of order, Mr Speaker: 113. I think the member is allowed 10 minutes to speak.

The SPEAKER: He is. Thank you, member for Morphett. The member for Davenport has the call.

Mr MURRAY: I thank the member for Morphett for his contribution.

An honourable member: Back to the minutiae.

Mr MURRAY: Yes, there may be a few more minutiae than previously anticipated, but we will plough on nonetheless. My congratulations to the member for Morphett on his command of standing orders.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Front and centre—perfect timing.

Mr MURRAY: Front and centre. Although I do note that the member for Lee and the member for Hammond were congratulating each other on Port Adelaide's win, whenever that was—first game at the Adelaide Oval. I switched off, but I did note that the member for Morphett ceased and desisted from exposing us to yet more of a run-through of his goal-kicking prowess and who he kicked his first goals against.

As has been outlined, this particular project continues to build on the north-south corridor. It strikes me as an opportunity to revisit a lesson that I suspect has been well learned but nonetheless does bear fresh consideration. By way of introduction, the estimated total cost for this part of the project is $354.3 million. As has been pointed out, it is jointly funded on a fifty-fifty basis by the commonwealth and state governments.

I want to draw attention to the fact that it helps complete a 47-kilometre section of the motorway, which is designed in turn to be part of the 78 kilometres between Gawler and Old Noarlunga. The north-south corridor is in many respects the sole remaining remnant of the MATS plan. With the indulgence of the house, having done some quick sums beforehand, I suspect the member for Mawson might be old enough to recall the MATS plan, and the member for Hammond definitely is old enough , which was released in 1968. I think you were but a mere babe, member for Mawson.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: I was two.

Mr MURRAY: You were two? There we go. I believe the member for Hammond had started high school by then. As a five year old at the time, I have a very clear recollection of living in a house in Darlington, which my mother took great care to explain to me we could not stay in because it was about to be demolished as it had been acquired by the government. This particular home, members will be interested to note, still stands to this day, albeit quite close to what is now the Southern Expressway.

An enormous amount of land was acquired as part of the MATS plan. In the context of decision-making to this day about how to complete this north-south corridor, I thought it would be worth revisiting what was contemplated with the MATS plan and, in particular, its slow and agonising death and, I would argue strongly, the cost that has been imposed on today's South Australian taxpayer. The MATS plan, as I said, was released in 1968 and envisaged a total of 98 kilometres of freeway. The plan envisaged a north-south freeway from Salisbury to Noarlunga, with an objective travel time of about 30 minutes for that trip.

The member for Morphett will be delighted to learn that the original plan called for the abolition of the Glenelg tram and instead replacing it with the Glenelg expressway. Probably the most controversial part of the then proposal was that the suburb of Hindmarsh was going to be the site of an interchange between four freeways, which, with the resultant planned LA-style spaghetti interchange, would have effectively obliterated the suburb of Hindmarsh. There was going to be a Port Adelaide freeway essentially running along what is still Port Road.

As a southern suburbs MP, I am particularly interested in the proposed foothills freeway, which would have run from about the corner of South and Sturt roads, up and across to the South Eastern Freeway and through Belair. There was a Modbury freeway, which has now found form as the O-Bahn. The location of the King William Street subway was subsequently subsumed by the Adelaide Festival Centre.

The key point is that the cost for all that work in its entirety—the acquisition of land and construction costs—was, in 1968 dollars, $436 million, which in round terms, in 2010 at least, was about $4½ billion. Whichever way you look at it, notwithstanding the desirability or lack of desirability of some of what was proposed in the late sixties, clearly, had we proceeded, it would have arguably been far cheaper than is currently the case.

As I said, enormous amounts of land were acquired as part of the MATS plan, which, for the benefit of those interested, is the Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study. Its death was protracted, considering where we currently are, the money we are spending and the discussions we are having about land acquisition and whether or not we have tunnels under South Road.

The plan, having started life in 1968, was comprehensively nixed or put on life support with the advent of the Dunstan government in 1970. In fairness to that government, in 1980, with the advent of a Liberal government, that Liberal government continued unravelling the plan and commenced some land sales other than land acquired along the north-south corridor. In 1983, the then Bannon Labor government formally abandoned the north-south corridor as well and in so doing unravelled the final part of the MATS plan, and in particular the land that had been acquired so as to enable the north-south corridor.

In endorsing this report, I would just like to make a point. As I said, I have vivid memories of being a five year old wondering why it was that the house we were in had been acquired by the government and they were going to knock it over. Looking back now, many years later, that home is still there. The lessons of history are that those who refuse to acknowledge what has occurred in the past are almost inevitably compelled to revisit the mistakes in the future.

In providing that admonition to be mindful of the history of this road and the expenditure on it, and the increased cost to us by virtue of the prevarication and political expediency that have typified this road project, I would like to add my voice to the points that we are satisfied that the acquittals required have been received and that the committee is satisfied that the project in all aspects has been subjected to the appropriate consultation. It meets the criteria for examination of projects set out in the act . The committee was unanimous in its support of the project. As a result, I lend my support to the noting of the project itself.

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:51): I thank the member for Davenport and the member for Morphett for their assistance in the parliamentary committee's examination that led to the preparation of this report. I also thank the parliamentary officers who assist us so well in the discharge of our duties and the witnesses who appeared and gave necessary and important evidence to us.

Motion carried.