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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-07-14 Daily Xml
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GEORGE STREET, PARKSIDE

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:20): Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker. This must be the feeling that members had in the Brown government when you were the Speaker. Hopefully, you will be easy on me.

I have spoken in this house on numerous occasions about the need for upgrade to roads in my electorate of Unley, including the lack of action taken by the Rann government regarding the Young Street and Unley Road blackspot intersection—to take an example. It is well documented that when the Rann government came to power in 2002 it shelved the plans that were developed by the previous Liberal administration and the Unley council to address significant traffic flow, pedestrian safety and commercial problems associated with Unley Road. In seven years it has consistently refused to revisit the issue.

Now we have a situation where the council has undertaken extensive roadworks along Duthy Street and George Street, with the latter still in progress and causing what can only be described as a series of safety hazards. There seem to be numerous faults with this project and a simple drive down George Street reveals many of them. For example, two stop signs placed on the junction of George Street/Maud Street and Duthy Street/Maud Street by the engineering consultant to form part of a traffic control have caused confusion amongst residents, road users and the council itself.

Advice provided by SA Police led to a review of these signs followed by a traffic impact statement assessing the recommended revisions for the signs at these junctions. In March this year I was advised that this impact statement was being prepared in conjunction with DTEI and would be subsequently installed. To date, both the signs and the confusion remain. Heading north along George Street, bus stops which were once recessed to avoid stoppages have now been brought forward preventing any traffic from passing a bus when it is stationary, which creates a build-up of traffic behind it.

George Street has been narrowed to the extent that there is not enough physical space to accommodate both a cyclist and a vehicle alongside each other, and buses negotiating the bend from Duthy Street to George Street must veer onto the wrong side of the road. There has been a widening of footpaths along George Street which now causes parked vehicles to be closer to traffic and this has seen the removal of parking bays outside homes and businesses. There are now curved footpaths at some bus stops that causes the elderly or the incapacitated, or even able-bodied residents with parcels or children, to step into the gutter. Buses which have been designed to lower for the ease of disembarking cannot be utilised. This would appear to be in direct contravention of the government's commitment to helping the aged and those with disabilities.

Reversing out of residences on George Street is now more dangerous due to the impeding bays that force a wider turning arc of a driveway. All vehicles turning left from either Young, Robsart or Leicester streets into George Street are forced on to the other side of the dividing road lanes due to the wider arc. Motorists are forced into compromising and dangerous situations. The bicycle slipway is rendered obsolete as, in practice, very few cyclists use it mainly due to the 'loose feel' of the path itself and the Stobie pole abutting the entry point.

A lot of time and money has been spent on this portion of the road and I look forward to these issues being addressed before these problems escalate and we are forced to spend further taxpayers' money fixing them. As a general observation, the current roadworks seem to create far more problems than they solve. Ratepayers who live in the area are forced to park on the new widened footpaths because they have nowhere else to park their vehicles. Taking away car parks and making vehicular traffic onerous is not a solution but adds to the problems of George Street.

George Street is a narrow street and is busy for one hour in the morning and again in the evening. A far simpler solution may have been to enforce the Unley 40 km/h limit, with random speed cameras. Four or five speed checks on a weekly basis would quickly send out the message to slow down on George Street. One could buy a lot of camera hours for the million plus dollars already spent. As a result of the concerns that I have received I am currently surveying local residents for their views and will be holding a public meeting on the issue shortly.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Hon. G.M. Gunn): The member for Morialta.

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