North-East Road Safety and Connectivity

Mrs PEARCE (King) (15:06): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister update the house on works being undertaken by the Malinauskas Labor government to improve road safety and connectivity in the north-east?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:06): I really want to thank the member for King for her question and her ongoing advocacy for improving traffic safety and easing congestion in her local community. She fought pretty hard for it at the last election and continues to fight for it. She has been a strong advocate for improving roads and infrastructure in the north-east since the 2022 election. She started earlier than that as a candidate.

I joined the member for King, along with the hardworking members for Wright and Newland, at a recent community cabinet forum hosted by the Premier in Golden Grove. I have to say that South Australia is building, and this couldn't have been more evident than in the north-east. We are trying to get on with the job as fast as we can of upgrading local intersections and removing bottlenecks, beginning with the intersection of The Grove Way, Atlantis Drive and Aeolian Drive, and The Grove Way and The Golden Way intersection in Golden Grove.

Since 2019, there have been 14 crashes at the intersection of The Grove Way, Atlantis Drive and Aeolian Drive—including, tragically, one fatal crash in February 2024—and 22 crashes at The Grove Way and The Golden Way intersection. The member for King knows that that is unacceptable and in partnership with the Albanese government, with the Black Spot program that the Albanese government funds, these intersections have now been upgraded.

The intersection of The Grove Way and The Golden Way have created an additional right-turn lane from The Grove Way to The Golden Way for traffic heading west, to ease congestion and improve connectivity. Connectivity was something we put in our policy documents at the last election as a way of making sure that communities don't just use roads in their vehicles but also use roads as pedestrians and as cyclists to make sure that the communities remain connected. It's a very, very important philosophy that my department is coming to grips with.

We also installed new right-turn arrows for motorists on Aeolian Drive and Atlantis Drive at The Grove Way to improve safety and the ease of movement at a very busy intersection. The upgrade was much needed, given the unfortunate fatality that occurred at this intersection earlier last year. The intersection of The Golden Way with The Grove shopping centre access has also been upgraded as part of a $2 million upgrade to improve pedestrian safety, particularly for pedestrians accessing Gleeson College, Golden Grove High School and Pedare Christian College.

The upgrade bonanza in the north-east has not ended there. We are now taking this another step further. We are also working to upgrade three other local intersections in the member for King's electorate as part of a $15 million package, which includes the intersections of The Grove Way and Canterbury Drive, The Grove Way and Green Valley Drive, and Main North Road and Target Hill Road, the last of which is starting works today and which gives locals the ability to turn right onto Main North Road—something the member for King has advocated for long and hard, and she is delivering now. Further down the road, works are also well under way to install signals at the intersection of Wynn Vale Drive and Bridge Road in the member for Wright's electorate.

So we are building, and these works would not be possible for the local community the member for King represents, the member for Newland represents, the member for Wright represents without those local members who listen to their constituents and deliver for their local communities. They have a Premier who understands the concerns of our MPs and our communities, and we get things done to deliver these commitments for our local communities.