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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-03-06 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Committees

Public Works Committee: Adelaide Road, Mount Barker Roundabout Upgrade

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (11:01): I move:

That the 115th report of the committee, entitled Adelaide Road, Mount Barker Roundabout Upgrade, be noted.

To support the increased residential development within the Mount Barker urban growth area and surrounding region, the Department for Infrastructure and Transport has identified the need for associated road network upgrades. The proposed project will upgrade the roundabout located at the intersection of Adelaide Road, Alexandrina Road, Wellington Road and Flaxley Road in Mount Barker, improving traffic flow as well as increasing road safety.

It is currently a dual-lane roundabout with single-lane approaches on some intersecting legs and experiences approximately 31,000 vehicles per day. This includes 26,000 from Adelaide Road, 15,000 from Wellington Road, 12,500 from Flaxley Road and another 7,000 from Alexandrina Road. Between 2019 and 2023 there were five reported accidents at the intersection, including one serious injury and two minor injury crashes. This project aims to increase the roundabout's capacity to support population and housing growth while also improving road safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. The proposed works include:

constructing additional traffic lanes on Flaxley Road, Wellington Road and Alexandrina Road;

relocating a pedestrian-actuated crossing on Wellington Road approximately 50 metres south-east of its current location;

installing a new pedestrian refuge on Alexandrina Road;

creating new shared-use paths and bike on/off ramps;

installing and upgrading lighting, line marking and drainage;

building new asphalt, kerb and gutter; and

creating new landscaping.

As part of the 2023-24 state budget, the South Australian government committed $40 million to this upgrade, with ongoing maintenance costs to be sourced from the department's ongoing annual operating budget. Main construction works are anticipated to commence mid this year, aiming for completion in mid-2026.

Adelaide Road, Wellington Road and Flaxley Road are under the care, control and management of the Commissioner of Highways, and Alexandrina Road is under the care, control and management of the Mount Barker District Council. Preliminary design determined the need to acquire one full parcel of land neighbouring the works, as well as partially acquiring another eight parcels. The department has commenced engagement with affected owners and all acquisition will be undertaken in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act.

The department will deliver the project through separate design and construct contracts, and the planning and design contract was awarded in February last year. The construct-only contract will be procured via an open request for tender as part of the preferred supplier arrangement and contract management contract. All procurement will be undertaken in accordance with the state government's procurement management framework and will comply with South Australian government guidelines.

Construction works will be managed in accordance with the department's general conditions of contract, and external resources may be engaged as required. The department will be responsible for project management in accordance with its program and project management framework and guidelines. The project team undertakes ongoing risk management and has identified the following risks and mitigation strategies:

community concerns, for which the department has developed a community and stakeholder engagement plan;

impacts on the road network, where the department will work in collaboration with the local council and the department's traffic management centre to minimise interruptions and delays where possible;

construction delays due to service relocations, for which the department has identified the affected existing services and is in early engagement with the relevant suppliers;

delays in obtaining approvals, where early engagement will minimise impact from any unforeseen complications; and

impacts to Mount Barker High School, for which the department will work in collaboration with the school to minimise impacts from the construction works.

The project will be assessed and managed in accordance with the department's environment and heritage impact assessment processes, including a sustainable development report outlining sustainability objectives, principles and opportunities. The report includes consideration of greenhouse gas emissions, green infrastructure, vegetation and fauna, water, noise, air quality and contamination. The selected contractor will also be required to develop and implement a contractor's environmental management plan that addresses key environmental and heritage aspects of the project.

The Register of Aboriginal Sites and Objects indicates no registered or reported Aboriginal sites, objects or ancestral remains within the project area, and a risk assessment indicates a low risk of encountering unrecorded Aboriginal heritage. Should any sites or objects be discovered during works, the management team will follow appropriate protocols. Relevant searches confirm the site is located within the area of the Peramangk Descendants Heritage and Land Council interest. There is no native title claim or determination over the project area. The department is aware that a native title claim may be made in the near future and will liaise with the Attorney-General's Department if required.

A non-Aboriginal heritage assessment has identified five local heritage places located within or adjacent to the project area, and the project will require the relocation of the heritage-listed original Mount Barker High School war memorial gates along Wellington Road. Detailed design will minimise any impacts on the remaining heritage places adjacent to the site, with the department stating that relevant approvals will be sought if determined to be necessary.

The department is in ongoing communication with stakeholders and the community and has prepared a management plan, providing an overview of communication strategies to ensure relevant stakeholders, local residents, property owners and businesses are consulted. This includes the Mount Barker District Council, traditional owners, state and federal members, the Department for Education, industry bodies, utility service providers, affected landowners and surrounding residents and businesses.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to the Adelaide Road, Mount Barker roundabout upgrade. Witnesses who appeared before the committee were Andrew Excell, Executive Director, Transport Strategy and Planning, Department for Infrastructure and Transport; Andrew Nicolson, Delivery Manager, Department for Infrastructure and Transport; and Amanda Collins, Director, Engagement, Department for Infrastructure and Transport. I thank the witnesses for their time.

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—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (11:08): I rise to address the 115th report of the Public Works Committee in relation to the Mount Barker roundabout upgrade, no doubt important work that follows on the dramatic growth of Mount Barker. Infrastructure growth needs to follow population growth.

We ought to remind ourselves at each turn in this regard that whenever the Labor government is coming along and providing funds to Mount Barker, it ought to preface that with an apology to the community. The government has apologised already for the 20-year mismanagement of the growth plan, or the lack thereof, at Mount Barker. The fact that Mount Barker is now needing to struggle through improvements that are really being made long after what should have been planned from the outset of Mount Barker's growth is a reminder to the residents of Mount Barker every day that there is going to be a lot they are going to have to go through while this significant work is undertaken.

I urge the government to ensure that it is done in as efficient and timely a way as it possibly can. We are going to see disruptions left, right and centre I expect at Mount Barker over the course of it and, my goodness, let's hope that it is worth it, because Mount Barker residents have been put through so much by this Labor government and past Labor governments and they know that.

The other thing I would stress is you had better believe it when you see it, because take by way of contrast just down the road at Meadows where we see a situation in which the government, the minister by his own hand, provided a promise to the very same local council, the Mount Barker council, in January 2024, January of last year, that an intersection upgrade, including a roundabout, would be installed, a long-awaited, long called for safety and infrastructure upgrade at the centre of Meadows. The minister promised that to the council, not to me. I have written to the minister urging it for some time and I do not get a response, but he said to the council in January of last year, 'This will be done and it will be drawn from the $150 million Hills' infrastructure upgrade funds.'

But the minister then had his CE write to the council just at the end of last year to say, 'Hang on, we won't be doing that anymore. It's on the backburner.' Just so we are really clear about it, just like in the case of works that have been long planned for Mount Barker, when the minister made his promise to the council in January last year that the upgrade would be done at Meadows, he must have done that informed by the then already completed infrastructure design planning and drawings, because we have those and they are dated November 2023. So it was not just a kind of, 'Maybe we'll get there and if we assess it,' and so on, no, it was in the full knowledge of assessment, the full reference to the relevant fund from which this work was going to be drawn, and yet, over the course of the year, that was allowed to drift to, 'Well, sorry, that might be on the backburner.'

It is not good enough. The community in Meadows will not stand for it and I have the full backing of the council and the community association. I want to thank and applaud my colleague our shadow minister for transport and infrastructure, the Hon. Ben Hood MLC, who has been on the ground with me at the doors and hearing it direct from our community. We will not stand for it in Meadows. Those in Mount Barker ought to just bear in mind that salutary lesson that, while it is one thing to have something promised by this government, it is another thing to see it actually done.

So we will not be letting up in Meadows. We will be watching very closely to ensure that what is a very significant amount of money that is to be deployed in Mount Barker is deployed responsibly and in a timely way. We will certainly be keeping a close eye on those works in Mount Barker. Meanwhile, the government ought to be able to keep its promises to the people of Meadows.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:13): I rise to speak to this Public Works report in regard to the Mount Barker roundabout. Certainly, it is a roundabout I go around many times in my role as the member for Hammond, either heading to Strathalbyn, if I am coming out of Adelaide, or coming from Strathalbyn through Mount Barker to Adelaide.

It is quite a usable roundabout and I have talked to quite a few Mount Barker residents about the priorities and certainly this roundabout will do some of the much-needed work in alleviating traffic stress in the Mount Barker region, especially when you look at the town that is essentially somewhere around 20 per cent of its growth plan. There was not much planning in the growth plan, as already indicated by the member for Heysen, so everything is done on an as-needs basis as time moves forward.

In my consultation with people who travel that route and the other intersecting roads into Mount Barker, the freeway interchange is one that comes up all the time as what should have been the priority in regard to getting into and out of Mount Barker. If you are coming from Murray Bridge into Mount Barker, you get to the freeway interchange to turn right towards Totness on the other side, and it is virtually impossible at times—most times, in fact—to turn right at that intersection. Notwithstanding, you usually give up, flick left, go into Mount Barker, find the first roundabout opportunity and turn around and come back that way, which is quite inefficient.

One thing that was a bit alarming—and the member for Heysen was there the other day with the football at the summit—was traffic banked up on those single-lane each-way roads. I must commend all the people involved in the traffic management there, working with council with the situation they had in getting those roughly 7,000 people in and out of the football at the summit. It was an excellent game. I know it was only a simulation game, so I am assuming Port Adelaide were simulating their chances that day, because they got beaten, sadly, but it was a great display of what can be done in regional communities. Sadly, that oval is not utilised enough, but that is a longer story. It is certainly good to see the AFL using it.

The Mount Barker freeway interchange project was part of the Hahndorf project, which got dismantled by the Labor governments both state and federal. It was a $250 million project that was put up under the former Liberal government that we fully supported on a state basis on an 80:20 funding level. Sadly, that has gone away. We are told it is still coming, but I will believe it when I see it. That $40-odd million greatly needs to be spent on that interchange to ease traffic.

One of the biggest issues in a growth area like Mount Barker is what we do if there is a fire. I know there was a report done many years ago on Blackwood, which is similar, having small streets and access points where even fire trucks are directed, 'Don't go down there because you will get caught.' The alarming report from that time was—and it was quite a while back now; it might be over a decade—if a horrendous fire goes through Blackwood, there will be 300 deaths. That is something pretty shocking to contemplate, and we certainly hope that does not happen.

The beauty of our firefighting service is that as we move forward we have better aircraft to work with the people on the ground in alleviating situations. But it is a very sobering thought that, if you cannot get out, there will be many people sadly paying the price. We certainly do not want that to happen. I know that emergency service workers, whether they be the Country Fire Service volunteers or the Metropolitan Fire Service, will do all they can in any situation to save everyone and maintain their lives.

In regard to talking about fire safety, I just want to note something that the member for Kavel said in a quote in The Advertiser of 23 November 2023 about emergency vehicles getting stuck in traffic congestion on the bridge over the freeway. The local MP, Dan Cregan, said that in the event of a bushfire, the interchange would be overwhelmed 'instantly'. That is something that needs to be taken into account with these road upgrades. I did have a conversation in the chamber with the member for Kavel about whether money for the roundabout could be put into the interchange. He said he had had that conversation with the minister and that it was not happening because it was a different bucket of money.

Certainly, this roundabout will alleviate some of the issues with the roundabout that is there currently. I believe, sadly, the fish and chip shop will disappear, and there will be some land compulsorily acquired from the high school and surrounding areas to make all those double-lane roads work with the expanded roundabout situation.

I urge the government to fast track the work on the freeway interchange at Mount Barker, not just for standard access but so that in the likely event—and I will call it, in the likely event—of bushfire in that same area people can quickly get access to safety in those adverse conditions. With that, we support the works for the roundabout but note that other infrastructure needs building in that vicinity.

Motion carried.

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