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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-09-26 Daily Xml
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St Bernards/Penfold/Newton Roads

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:27): I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss a number of traffic issues along St Bernards Road, Newton Road and Penfold Road that border my electorate and the electorate of Vincent Tarzia, the member for Hartley. These are issues that the member for Hartley and I have raised with this house on a number of occasions.

The basis of the issue goes back 12 years to a road management plan that was undertaken by the Department for Transport through 2010 and 2011 (completed in 2011) that made a range of recommendations about improved treatments to this very, very busy road with many challenges for pedestrians and commuters alike. Amongst those recommendations was a signalled intersection on the corner of St Bernards Road and Reid Avenue, a matter for which the member for Hartley and I have been fighting and encouraging transport ministers to implement for the better part of a decade.

Indeed, I bring to the house's attention the East Torrens Messenger, as it then was, of 13 August 2014, in which I highlighted at that time that I had asked the state government to have a serious look at this intersection:

The government completed a Draft Road Management Plan in October 2011 and St Bernards Rd was identified as an area needing attention…But the government is still yet to implement any of the suggestions.

That is what I said in 2014. I pay credit indeed to the Chemmart operator Colleen Devitt, who started a petition. I have a copy of it for the house today, with hundreds and hundreds of signatures from people living in both my electorate and, in particular, in the suburb of Hectorville in the member for Hartley's electorate. I know the member for Hartley at the time encouraged people to sign that petition urging the government to undertake works. There was no satisfactory response in 2014.

In 2015, I undertook a survey of people in my electorate and the member for Hartley in his. We had hundreds of responses, with more than 75 per cent support for installation of a short right-turn lane into Reid Avenue. Indeed, when asked about whether they wanted traffic lights, a wider pedestrian refuge or no change at the intersection, traffic lights were supported by over 80 per cent of residents in Morialta, and I think Hartley's results were similar.

I provided that advice to the then Minister for Transport, Stephen Mullighan, now Treasurer. He forwarded it to the then Minister for Road Safety, now Premier, Peter Malinauskas, and the computer said no. The Premier, then the Minister for Road Safety, said that that was not at the threshold to justify the expense of what he indicated at the time was $1.6 million, so the government would not proceed unless it was able to get funding from the commonwealth.

In 2019, we tried again with the new minister, the Hon. Stephan Knoll. At that time, unfortunately again—and I am sad that this happened under the former Liberal government—he indicated that, 'In regard to the intersection of Reid Avenue and St Bernards Road, I am advised that this section has been assessed and detailed in the RMP. As part of the RMP investigation, a study has been undertaken.' I am paraphrasing here. 'The study determined that there was not an adequate increase to warrant the installation of a dedicated PAC or traffic signals. A pedestrian survey was also undertaken by the department in September 2018, confirming the location does not warrant it.'

He did say, 'However, any proposal to make upgrades to transport infrastructure at this location as part of the RMP would also look at upgrading the pedestrian walk-through at this location.' Further correspondence and meetings with the member for Hartley and I and the Minister for Transport at the time did not get the final outcome then, but obviously that work that former Minister Knoll identified, how they were looking for opportunities, has now seen some good outcome. I am pleased that after a decade of endeavours, we understand that that project is now funded in the coming year. I am pleased about that; however, there are many more.

The last time I spoke to this house about transport issues along St Bernards Road and Penfold Road, in particular I highlighted the enormous new development numbers: the enormity of the growth in student numbers at Morialta Secondary College—170 this year and 1,200 within the next five years—the changes due to Magill Village, the developments at Woodforde, the seminary development at Rostrevor and the significant increasing traffic problems that this whole stretch of road has seen.

I argued then that the government needed to pay attention to this to deliver improvements, and I have now received correspondence from the Hon. Tom Koutsantonis, the transport minister, confirming that, unfortunately, the department will not be proceeding with the indented bus stop outside the college, nor are they interested in improvements to Norton Summit Road and Magill Road. We hope that further work will be undertaken by the department. I urge the minister to insist on further work by the department to improve these intersections and these roads, which are currently a mess.

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