South Road

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:08): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Will the minister provide an update on the additional benefits of the new nonstop South Road?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Autism) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for his question on this important topic. After years of talk and debate, the Albanese and Malinauskas Labor governments are delivering the $15.4 billion nonstop South Road. When complete, this project will create a nonstop South Road allowing motorists to bypass 21 sets of traffic lights between the River Torrens and Darlington, saving motorists up to 40 minutes in peak travel times.

Some people may not know about the additional benefits of this project, like the increased open space that will be created along the corridor. The T2D project will create 26 hectares of green open space and 22 kilometres of new and upgraded cycling and walking paths. Upon completion, the new spaces will form part of South Australia's largest creation of green open space by a road project through urban design.

The state government has now released new concept images and specific details about the new open spaces for community feedback. Each of the 10 new or upgraded spaces along the corridor will feature its own distinct materials and landscaping themes, celebrating the unique identity and heritage of each area. These spaces will include extra open space, new playgrounds, more greenery, public amenities and upgraded facilities. They will be in areas like Hindmarsh, Torrensville, Glandore and Clovelly Park. To bring these principles to life, the project will deliver an increase in tree canopy coverage of 20 per cent, five new pedestrian and cycling bridges across the motorway and open spaces that encourage active lifestyle and community connection.

I encourage the community and everyone in this chamber to go online and take a look at the T2D project's urban design plans and share their feedback. The T2D project has made significant progress this year with sites at Clovelly Park and Richmond preparing for major tunnelling works by the tunnel boring machines. These are yet another great example of what we have been able to achieve. We have the cutter head pieces that have arrived for the first piece. With five pieces coming together, it is going to create an opportunity for us to start putting them together and seeing the remaining pieces start to arrive by the end of the year.

We look forward to seeing this project progressing, and also seeing the names continue to come in before the cut-off on 30 November. We have already had over 2,000 submissions in the naming competition, some a little bit on the silly side, some more serious and some that I cannot mention in this chamber. At the end of the day, we have had a lot of people start to engage with the fact that we have this incredible piece of infrastructure arriving in our state and also with this project that will connect and have a nonstop freeway that we have not had before.