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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-22 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Crafers Park-and-Ride

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:34): I move:

That the 51st report of the committee, entitled Crafers Park-and-Ride Project, be noted.

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) proposes to upgrade the Crafers park-and-ride facility, located next to the Crafers off ramp and the South Eastern Freeway. The upgrade will provide an additional car park with provisions for 85 spaces, inclusive of accessible bays and motorcycle parking spaces, and aims to increase the parking capacity to foster public patronage growth whilst improving access and safety for drivers and pedestrians at the interchange.

This initiative forms part of the South Australian government's commitment to improve transport to support growth in Mount Barker and the Adelaide Hills and is part of a suite of public transport measures for the Adelaide Hills region. This facility is the closest park-and-ride to the city which offers customers in the Adelaide Hills a place to park their cars or bikes and transfer to public transport to complete their journey. The project will reduce the reliance on private vehicle trips which in turn will reduce congestion and environmental impacts through encouraging the use of public transport and reducing the reliance on private car use.

The Crafers location was selected by DIT as it increases car parking close to existing bus stops; reduces the impacts to bus services, nearby residents and businesses during construction; and allows the existing northern car park to continue to operate during construction. This northern car park has a low capacity and upon project completion this initiative will alleviate overflow issues currently being experienced.

The project will allow more people access to public transport and improve customer safety, security and amenity when using the facility with the main aim being to relieve congestion through reducing the number of vehicles on the road during peak hours. The new Crafers park-and-ride will result in a new car park with the following features:

85 car parking spaces;

access via the existing roundabout at the intersection of Waverley Ridge Road and the Crafers on-off ramps;

an exit via the Crafers off ramp;

new LED lighting and closed-circuit television;

a new footpath to connect existing footpaths and the new car park;

realignment of the existing shared use path on the south-western corner of the new car park;

landscaping and urban design treatments with upgraded drainage systems; and

a new equipment hub to house switchboard, CCTV and other relevant electrical and ICT infrastructure.

The capital cost of the development is $6 million. Construction has commenced with practical completion and operation expected by the middle of this year, weather permitting.

The project will require the removal and clearance of a combination of significant and regulated trees, native vegetation, amenity vegetation and weeds. DIT confirms that appropriate approvals for the clearance of vegetation has been granted by the Native Vegetation Council and any offsets will be made in accordance with the department's vegetation impact assessment guidelines. The removal of vegetation has been minimised where possible and will continue to be minimised throughout the development of the detailed design where possible.

A cost-benefit analysis has been undertaken in accordance with the Australian Transport Assessment and Planning guidelines, which found there is a monetised estimate benefit of this project. This analysis includes the project's impacts on vehicle operating costs, road crashes and safety, environmental impacts, additional public transport fare revenue, passenger active transport benefits, capital costs and maintenance costs. Additionally the project also provides close proximity parking for Main Street users outside of core public transport times.

DIT has prepared a sustainable development report that demonstrates how the project has adopted detailed methods to incorporate sustainable technology into the project. Furthermore, active design strategies have been employed to minimise greenhouse gas emissions and resources over the life span of the project to ensure that climate change risks have been considered as well as utilising green infrastructure objectives.

Delivery of the project will require contractors to work under the environmental, heritage and sustainability requirements of the department. DIT confirms that project management will follow framework and guidelines in conjunction with contract management procedures. External specialist resources may be utilised, if necessary, and risk management will form an integral part of the project management process to identify and assess risk and ensure appropriate management or mitigation measures are included in the project delivery.

There has been extensive consultation, and a community and stakeholder management plan has been prepared to provide an overview of the communication activities during construction so that relevant stakeholders, local residents, property owners and businesses continue to be engaged during the project works. DIT confirms that community consultation will continue throughout the project duration.

After consultation with the Attorney-General's Department Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation unit, it was determined that there are no registered or reported Aboriginal sites, objects or ancestral remains within the project area. An assessment of the risk of encountering previously unknown or unrecorded Aboriginal heritage sites has been undertaken, and has established there is a low risk. The department states it will utilise discovery protocols should an inadvertent discovery be made during construction. There are no state, local or contributory non-Aboriginal heritage-listed places expected to be directly impacted by the project.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to the Crafers park-and-ride project. Witnesses who appeared before the committee were Andrew Excell, Executive Director, Transport Strategy and Planning, Department for Infrastructure and Transport; and Andrew Nicolson, Delivery Manager, Infrastructure Delivery, Department for Infrastructure and Transport. I thank the witnesses for their time. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the member for Heysen, who provided a statement to the committee supporting the project in his electorate.

Based upon the evidence considered, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (11:41): I rise too. I appreciate the intro just at the conclusion of the member's remarks to commend the work. I am grateful that the committee has conducted its necessary review and that the project is underway. As I am heading back and forth daily past the site and using the existing facilities, I am reminded of the really multifaceted advantages that are going to flow from the expansion of park-and-ride facilities at Crafers.

I say I pass it daily—in order to do so these days, you have the pleasure of taking advantage of that section of the freeway between Crafers and Stirling that now has three lanes on both sides. We have really seen tremendous benefit that has flowed from a safety point of view of the addition of that third lane on both sides of the freeway. As the volume of traffic increases on the freeway, particularly commuter traffic, that already has been a tremendous improvement to road safety at that location, at that part of the freeway. It was a tremendous achievement of the Marshall Liberal government and something that is experienced daily.

Working hand in hand with that capacity and safety improvement has been calls that I was making from and including the first days of my candidature following my preselection as the would-be new member for Heysen, back as far as the middle part of 2017 and ahead of the 2018 election, calling for improvement and expansion to local park-and-rides, and Crafers chief among them. It is with considerable appreciation that I welcomed the announcement by the former Liberal government in February 2022 to commit funds to not only the expansion of that park-and-ride—the Crafers park-and-ride facilities—but also the addition of high-speed, high-performance dedicated buses to assist in the reduction of commuter cars on the freeway, and the improvement of access to the bus services that service those park-and-ride facilities.

There is more to be done. There is ready opportunity for considerable expansion and improvement at the Verdun interchange outside Hahndorf that will serve the neighbouring areas. I will be continuing to prosecute the argument for investment in that area, as the need for expansion of park-and-ride facilities all the way along the freeway corridor continues to be important.

Of course, when the announcement of the funding in February 2022 was made by the former government, the plan was to provide for 140 additional parking spaces. Every additional parking space is welcome. It is noted that the works that are now going to be completed by the government we are told are going to provide for 85 additional parking spaces. It is a matter of some interest, and the committee had the opportunity to have that information before it in terms of the reduction in the additional parking spaces that will flow from the current plan.

I mentioned the works to construct the third lane on the freeway on both sides between Crafers and Stirling. I have to say, if you are going to follow along transport and infrastructure works in progress it can sometimes be a situation where there is a whole lot of disruption and difficulty and a slow down and all that sort of thing while the construction is going on, and commuters and residents and everyone in the local area really had to work with those who were doing those works for the period of time. But it is a standout example of something that was achieved efficiently by diligent experts, and the end result, when it all happens, is such a tremendous improvement.

They were based on site on land that was convenient to the location of the works throughout the working process and on both sides. But, relevantly, they were occupying an area of land just above and adjacent to the freeway interchange at Crafers and more or less contiguous with the existing park-and-ride and near where the buses arrive, so much so that it was obvious to me, and I am sure, because the department people are ahead of the game—usually ahead of me already—it was possible to make submissions to say, 'Look, make sure you prove up the possibility of using this space subsequently for the much-needed expansion of the park-and-ride facilities.' I am very pleased that that is indeed the way that it has transpired.

Convenient as this expansion is to the location of the existing park-and-ride car spaces and where the buses stop, it is also convenient to the main street of Crafers itself and to the various businesses and, if you like, launch point possibilities for Crafers township so that, like park-and-ride facilities can when properly deployed through the Hills, it can serve through the week as a convenience for commuters so that we have fewer cars on the freeway.

On the weekend and out of hours, I am sure it will also serve as an enhancement to the possibilities to access, to park, to walk to Crafers main street to spend time in Crafers, and then to go from there. Of course, it is a short climb from there to Mount Lofty Summit and lots of surrounding possibilities to use Crafers as a starting point.

It will be welcomed in terms of its core function, it will be welcomed for its capacity to provide additional parking space for other purposes outside of those high-pressure commuting times, and it will be a benefit for Crafers township and for the surrounding areas. For all those reasons, I have been calling for it for years. I am glad that the Marshall Liberal government committed to it. I am glad those works are being continued. I will keep pressing for the securing of even more additional car spaces, hopefully to get us up to the 140 committed by the previous government. In the meantime, everyone is welcome, and I am sure we will all follow closely as the construction works continue. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:51): I would like to take this opportunity to, again, thank the member for Heysen for his positive advocacy for the government's project and also for providing his views to the house. I again commend this project.

Motion carried.

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