Public Works Committee: South Eastern Freeway Managed Motorway Project

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:36): I move:

That the 30^th report of the committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled 'South Eastern Freeway managed motorway project', be noted.

The South Eastern Freeway is part of the National Land Transport Network between Adelaide and Melbourne. It is the primary access corridor to and from Adelaide for the South-East of South Australia, the Murraylands and much of the Adelaide Hills. The corridor is the most direct road link between Adelaide and Melbourne, provides a vital link in moving freight between eastern and central Australia and serves a mix of urban and regional communities. This corridor also plays a significant role in linking the Eastern States with Western Australia and, to some extent, the Northern Territory.

The South Eastern Freeway managed motorway project is expected to improve the freight network link to Victoria and regional South Australia, as well as providing a cost-effective alternative to traditional road widening. This project will involve the implementation of managed motorway measures to address the identified bottleneck on the South Eastern Freeway between Crafers and Stirling.

This is expected to contribute towards a more efficient transport network and improve the road safety for road users. It is a section of the freeway with which I am closely familiar and with which the member for Heysen is very closely familiar as well. In coming to this place this morning, I passed through that section of the freeway, as I do very often in the discharge of parliamentary duties.

Specifically, the key aims of the proposed South Eastern Freeway managed motorway project are to create a more efficient and less congested transport network, optimise freeway reliability to support the mobility of freight and people, reduce the number and severity of rear-end and sideswipe crashes, stabilise freeway speeds during periods of high demand to make them more consistent and safe, improve incident management with intelligent transport system infrastructure, and minimise impacts to the travelling public, business operations and the wider community during construction, where practically possible.

The estimated cost of the project is $14.2 million. The project is being jointly funded by the Australian and South Australian governments, with each government contributing $7.5 million exactly. It is expected that project construction will be completed in mid-2020. The Public Works Committee has examined written and oral evidence in relation to this project. The committee has been assured by officials from the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure that acquittals have been received from the Department of Treasury and Finance, 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 appropriate agency consultation 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 reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public works.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (11:39): I take the opportunity to rise in support of the motion and to make some brief remarks with reference to the report and the proposed public works. As the member for Kavel has identified, the South Eastern Freeway managed motorway works will bring a much-needed safety improvement to that part of the South Eastern Freeway between Crafers and Stirling. As we know, that is frequented now by approximately 54,000 vehicle journeys each day. It has seen an increase in use over the last decade in particular, as a result of increasing freight movements and the increasing residential population along the freeway, most notably at Mount Barker.

I, too, travel that section of the freeway daily on my journeys through Heysen and to the city from my home at Bridgewater. It is a section of the freeway that has been very much in my attention from well before I was a candidate and also throughout my time as a candidate, prior to the election and since. It has been the subject of keen community interest, primarily, if not exclusively, with a view to ensuring that that section of the freeway is safe for motorists. That includes those local residents at Crafers and Stirling who have occasion to use that section of the freeway to commute and to move between those two town centres.

Something that can be observed very readily on a daily basis is the challenge that has resulted from a pre-eminent piece of road infrastructure that was developed some generations ago now having to deal with substantially increased volumes of traffic of all kinds. That is perhaps at no point more clear than at the points of connection from the Crafers and Stirling on-ramps at those sections of the freeway. One can observe the difficulty of the merging of traffic, whether that be the scheduled bus services, trucks navigating that section of the freeway at differing speeds or regular vehicular traffic endeavouring to go from town speed to freeway speed in the course of entry and, vice versa, at exit.

This work will significantly improve the safety and navigability of that section of the freeway. In my view, it is long overdue. I will continue, as will the member for Kavel and members of the local community, to work through the process of implementing these works. I congratulate the government on prioritising this work and I thank the Public Works Committee for its report.

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:44): It is right to say that the member for Heysen has been a strong and consistent advocate for this project. He is closely familiar with it. He receives, as I do, regular feedback in relation to the need for it, and he and I together identified it early as a project requiring the utmost attention of the minister. We are very grateful to the minister and the government that this project has been brought forward in the manner that it has, and quickly, at our urging and the urging of our community.

It is right to say, too, as the member for Heysen has said, that this project has been needed for some time. It gives me great pride as a local member in the Hills, as I am sure it does the member for Heysen, that this project is now no longer being talked about but being delivered. This is very substantial good news. Our communities have been crying out for this project, and it will be delivered by this government in its first term.

The member for Heysen rightly observed, too, that this section of the freeway can at times be difficult to navigate for vehicles and trucks. We have seen that at close quarters, and regularly, and members of our community see that. Whenever there is an accident at this particular location on the freeway, there are often long delays.

The evidence put before the Public Works Committee was that this section of freeway has a higher crash incidence than divided freeways of this type. For that reason also, it is right that works be initiated first at this section of the freeway to address significant safety concerns. Of course, we know, our constituents know and anybody who travels through this section of freeway knows that it can be dangerous. In the middle of winter when there might be a little bit of black ice on the road and heavy vehicle movements, when it is late and you have your lights on and there is some fog—as there often is—it can be particularly dangerous.

We are acting to try to address with the minister and the government as quickly as we can the matters that constituents have raised with us. The member for Heysen and I will continue to monitor the development of this project, and we recommend the proposed public works.

Motion carried.