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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-05-15 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Mount Barker Road and River Road Junction Upgrade

Adjourned debate on motion of Ms Hood:

That the 118th report of the committee, entitled Mount Barker Road and River Road Junction Upgrade, be noted.

(Continued from 1 May 2025.)

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (11:29): On the previous occasion, I had the opportunity to continue my remarks in the context of this motion to note the Public Works Committee's rather now antiquated 118th report. We have moved some considerable distance forward in the time since the motion was moved by the Chair, and in that time we have now had the opportunity to have a look at the preparations for the necessary improvement of that intersection.

For those who are taking in the debate—and I certainly commend the report as a useful reference point for that work—we can see those among the million visitors who visit Hahndorf travelling past that intersection more or less entirely along that route, and that the plan of this government to divert heavy trucks along River Road has necessitated a transformation of the corner. Again, perhaps for easy reference, that is the corner that is now very visibly the home base for Sidewood Estate—cellar door and restaurant—and that has been a significant investment that has gone in right there just in recent years.

What is obvious to the casual observer is that that is an intersection that was never even remotely suitable for some kind of major use by trucks. We have heard the government say, throughout the whole process since it sort of announced this out of the blue, that these are general access roads and so it is possible to divert the trucks without any changes. That is all really clear but, of course, it is an unhelpful observation in that 'general access' describes pretty much every road in the state.

A road that passes by the front gate of a farm that is going to need a stock truck to come and collect or deliver animals from time to time is going to use a general access road to get there, and River Road is one such road. It is a general access road and no-one is arguing about that point. What is so clear is that we have had to see this sort of incremental adaption to just about attempt to make River Road bearably passably manageable for these trucks that have now been banned from heading on through to Main Street. We also know that we have ongoing congestion problems in Main Street, Hahndorf, that really are not relieved to any significant extent by the diversion of these trucks along River Road.

The report, of course, is concerned with the discrete works to the intersection which is a significant body of work, otherwise it would not have been the subject of a Public Works Committee report. That is on top of what have been relatively significant works to install barriers along River Road, to cut trees along River Road, significantly to add to some extent some shoulders on the side of what was a quiet Hills road, and all so as to facilitate trucks passing by, in many cases, in relation to the residents on River Road, within metres of a front gate or even a front door. But in order to get there, in order to even get onto River Road, these trucks are having to, for the most part—if they are coming in from Verdun and then navigating their way south—execute a right-hand turn off Mount Barker Road and into River Road.

I have sat in both a livestock truck and a log truck attempting that turn, and I have also stood on the corner of the intersection while one and more have attempted it in the same and in opposite directions, as has, I am glad to say, my colleague the member for Hammond and the leader—regrettably, despite multiple invitations, not the minister, not the Premier. What is obvious is that the intersection cannot even remotely cope with doing that efficiently or safely. There have been very near misses, with cars parked at the top end of River Road looking to enter Mount Barker Road being at risk of being crushed, and having to reverse back to allow room.

Of course, this really highlights the extraordinary skill of those who are driving the trucks. They are a wonderful, generous and skilful group of people who are very much aware of how to navigate these twists and turns through the hills. However, even with such expertise it has proved to be just impossible and unworkable to navigate that corner. It is for good reason that the community has been up in arms.

The Hahndorf community—and I applaud the Hahndorf Community Association, which met again just overnight—and the River Road community, which is very directly affected, moved to pursue a petition signed by many thousands of people over the course of recent months. There will be more to say about that separately, but suffice to say, for the purposes of this motion and of the works the subject of this 118th report of the Public Works Committee, what we are seeing here is proving up what compounding bad effects occur when an ill thought through, suddenly imposed, apparent fix to what is a serious problem is just imposed, as the cliche describes it, as a sort of bandaid over what requires a thoroughgoing commitment based on proper assessment, and then a commitment to serious improvement.

Getting back to that bigger picture, the works on the Verdun exchange are vital; they will be done. The surrounding works that will ameliorate or reduce, hopefully, the number of vehicles that need to go into Hahndorf at all are vital, and need to be done, but we must see greater investment in bypassing traffic for both commuters and heavy vehicles in Hahndorf. This River Road diversion is no solution for that.

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (11:38): I commend the report to the house.

Motion carried.

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