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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-06-05 Daily Xml
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Curtis Road Upgrade

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (14:33): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister inform the house of progress and challenges in relation to the upgrade of Curtis Road?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:33): A very clear, concise question: it needed no explanation. From my regular conversations with the member for Light, as well as the members for Taylor and Elizabeth, about the crucial importance of Curtis Road to Adelaide's rapidly growing northern suburbs, it's an important piece of infrastructure.

Curtis Road is a critical thoroughfare both now and into the future. Suburbs such as Munno Para, Angle Vale, Riverlea, Kudla, Concordia and Roseworthy are predicted to see significant population growth with the government's expansions of housing to deal with the housing crisis. The Northern Adelaide Transport Study recently undertaken by the Department for Infrastructure and Transport reinforces what we are hearing about Curtis Road's importance as an east-west link, providing access to the north-south corridor through the Northern Connector.

Fortunately, the first stage of a quicker, safer drive for commuters will be delivered with a quarter of a billion dollars investment by the Malinauskas Labor government and the Albanese Labor government to remove an important crossing. It is our piece of infrastructure and we are dealing with our infrastructure because approximately 21,000 vehicles pass through this level crossing each day. During peak periods the boom gates can be down for up to 15 minutes every hour. When there is a piece of our infrastructure that is causing congestion, we want to fix it.

The removal of the rail level crossing and the grade separation will improve safety, travel time and reliability on the road and rail network. These works support significant growth areas, access from residential areas to the Northern Expressway and Main North Road, which is essential for people to access employment, education and recreational services.

We will employ 425 FTE's (full-time) over the construction period, with major works to commence by 2027 with completion by 2030. It follows our investment on the intersection of Heaslip and Curtis Road in Angle Vale. The member also asked about challenges. This is a road—which is entirely owned by the council—that over the last decade has not seen any significant investment by them at all. Indeed, when I first got sworn in as minister one of the first meetings the member for Taylor asked me to have was with that council.

I met with that council and I asked them to develop plans for stormwater and footpaths. If this road was duplicated, where would the stormwater be? How would the footpaths integrate? What infrastructure do we need to build? What would it look like? They said they would go away and do the work. I met with them at the instigation of the member for Light and I asked about the work. That work had not been completed—three years. Curtis Road and the City of Playford have only spent on that road $268,000 over the last 10 years. We are spending a quarter of a billion. They spent $268,000 over 10 years.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We are talking about Curtis Road, not anything else. Given the council's public statements on the ownership of Curtis Road, I think it is about time some of the councillors who are in the City of Playford actually focus on doing their jobs and their job is not making Facebook posts and complaints: their job is about being in the chamber, allocating ratepayers' money to a road. If they can't do it or won't do, let us know. If they are that indifferent to the needs of their constituents, let us know, because this road needs to be fixed and it's time the council got on with fixing it, and if they are not going to fix it, say so. Say so, because we want it fixed. We are going to fix Curtis Road, so we are doing our bit on our infrastructure, and it is time for the council to do its bit on its infrastructure.

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