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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-23 Daily Xml
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KING STREET BRIDGE

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (16:04): Most members would be aware, because it has been extensively covered in the media, that there was a very serious accident at the intersection of Africaine Road and Tapleys Hill Road on Monday morning. I understand the young man was critically injured and is in a serious condition. This intersection has been the subject of a lot of attention by me, the federal Labor member, Mr Steve Georganas, the councils (both the City of Holdfast Bay and the City of West Torrens), the residents, the police and the office of public transport because this intersection is a very dangerous intersection under any normal circumstance, where you have 45,000 cars a day going down Tapleys Hill Road, which is a four-lane road. There is a large radius bend there in Tapleys Hill Road, and it is very difficult to see what is coming. That means that, at the intersection with Africaine, traffic is trying to negotiate across those four lanes from Africaine Road itself, which is an S-shaped road.

These circumstances—more traffic and more risk, and we predicted an accident there—have come about because the King Street bridge has been closed for repairs. This had to happen, and it was known that it had to happen, because I have been lobbying the state government since 2008 to get some extra money down there. At the moment the federal government has put in $4.5 million and the City of Holdfast Bay has put in $4.5 million, and the bridge is now closed for repairs. It will be out of action until December at best.

I hope it will not be longer than that, because what is happening is that the 7,500 cars a day, the 400 buses a week, and the hundreds if not thousands of cyclists who used the King Street bridge are now going out along Military Road and turning right at Africaine, trying to get out on to Tapleys Hill Road. It is just bedlam. Traffic is going north to West Beach Road and then further north to Burbridge Road, and there is massive congestion at the Tapleys Hill Road/Africaine Road intersection.

We knew there would be an accident there, and we have been asking for traffic lights. Initially we sought temporary traffic lights, but I am told that the difference between temporary and permanent traffic lights is not a lot of money, so we have been asking for traffic lights. People say that it will cost too much, that it is not worth it for the short time, that it will disrupt traffic on Tapleys Hill Road. Traffic lights were put in at Harbourtown because they knew it would be unsafe, and that was a good move. There are lights just south of Africaine Road at Warren Avenue, and I am sure two sets of traffic lights—at Africaine Road and Warren Avenue—could by synchronised. We do it with 17 sets of traffic lights on North Terrace.

There was a serious accident on Monday, and I understand that the Motor Accident Commission puts the cost of those sorts of accidents at over $1 million. That one accident has shown that traffic lights could have been put there for between $300,000 and $500,000—half the cost of the accident, never mind the personal cost involved. I do not know the circumstances of that accident, but I have film on my website and on YouTube showing what a dangerous intersection it is, with cars queueing there.

Prohibiting right-hand turns is not the answer, prohibiting traffic—trucks, caravans and boats, as it is now—from travelling along there is not the answer. In fact, I have just been told that the estimated cost of a fatal road crash is about $1.5 million, and the costs to the state per year from road accidents is $1.5 billion. The cost of a set of traffic lights there could have been well and truly covered, and I would be very surprised if that accident could not have been averted.

This is a very dangerous corner. As I said, the police, the office of public transport, the councils, the local federal Labor member and the local sub-branch of the Labor Party have all been asking the minister to do something about it, and I am pleading with the minister to do something. It is a small cost. This is a short-term solution for a long-term problem; the intersection will get more and more busy. The Crows are playing Saturday afternoon. Last time they counted, 11,500 cars went over King Street bridge after the footy. It will be bedlam on Tapleys Hill Road on Saturday afternoon.

This is a long-term problem and it needs a long-term solution. Traffic lights are the only solution for that problem. They can come up with alternatives such as banning right-hand turns, trying to restrict access by trucks and buses, things like that, but that is not the answer. It is not just a local problem; it is a statewide problem.

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