South Eastern Freeway

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:13): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister inform the house of the benefits of adding a third lane on each side of the South Eastern Freeway between Crafers and Stirling?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:13): I can very much. I can also attest, as can the member for Heysen and the member for Kavel, how cold it is at Crafers at 8 o'clock in the morning on a Monday morning.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Why do you all live up there?

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is called to order.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: According to the bureau, it felt like minus 1° and can I tell that on the ground it felt like minus 1°.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: But an absolutely brilliant morning—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left and right!

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison: But they do have the best hotel.

The SPEAKER: The member for Ramsay is called to order. The minister has the call. It was so good for the first eight minutes.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call, thank you.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: I didn't realise that commenting on the weather was going to be that disconcerting.

Can I say that it was fantastic, I must admit, to be up there and discussing the history of this project, this managed motorways project—one that has been on the books for some time. In fact, we sort of went back through the last budget under the former government and saw that it was an existing project, and then went back to the budget beforehand and the budget beforehand and the budget beforehand, and I think we actually had to go back to 2012-13 to find when this project was actually originated under the former government.

But what is really exciting is that, since March 2018 last year, we have been able now to get this project off the ground, make sure that it has enough funding to actually happen and that there is a proper construction profile for this project. For those people who live along that Hills corridor, and I am talking about the people who live in Mount Barker, the people who live in Nairne, the people who live in Crafers and Stirling—these are quickly growing areas of our state, even if you take it out to—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member West Torrens is on the board, and is called to order.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —Strathalbyn. People in the Hills areas have seen huge growth, and what they need is a government that is willing to invest to make sure that there is infrastructure in place to deal with the growth that we are seeing. There is $14.2 million—fifty-fifty funded between the Morrison and Marshall governments—to convert what are existing emergency lanes into full lanes of traffic using an intelligent transportation system, a managed motorways concept, that is quite understood by people across other parts of our state, and one that is used in limited fashion here in Adelaide but one that is going to be used more and more, especially on the South Eastern Freeway.

We know that 54,000 vehicles a day use this, and that number is only going to grow as we see the Hills corridor get more and more busy as more and more people choose to live up in the Hills. Now, 10 per cent of that traffic is also heavy vehicles, and we know the specific issues in relation to gradient, which means that heavy vehicles on the South Eastern Freeway is one that we need to take particular care and advantage of.

These works will include road shoulder widening to allow three trafficable lanes in both directions, the upgrade of road lining for the extent of the works, the relocation of safety barriers, improved drainage, the upgrading of pavement and automated incident detection using video-automated incident detection technology. Essentially, that is the idea that, while we will be losing an emergency service lane, we are putting the technology in place so that when an accident does unfortunately occur on the South Eastern Freeway we have the technology to make sure that we quarantine that site but that traffic can continue to flow, in essence making sure that we use technology to make this road safer.

Can I thank very much the advocacy of the two local members of parliament who this most directly affects and also constituents from the Hammond electorate who would be driving down from Murray Bridge. This is something that they have fought long and hard for, and I am very glad to be able to deliver this, not the least of which so that they can get off my back, but more so for the people of their communities so that they can see a Marshall government that is willing to invest in their region.

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Light is called to order. The deputy leader has the call.