Councillor Don Palmer Providing Local Leadership & Working for You

Concerns expressed in the media in the last 12 months that not enough attention is being given to transport in the 30 year plan is being expressed in a different form right now courtesy of the RAA.

The RAA has published findings of  a traffic survey and surprise, surprise they have found that traffic has slowed significantly in Adelaide in the last 10 years. And surprise, surprise Belair/Unley Road has been found to be the worst, adding three days to the work year of the commuters using this road. Goodwood Road features in the top ten too, making commuters travelling through the City of Unley the biggest sufferers.

And don’t forget little suburban streets like East Avenue (Clarence Park, Millswood, Black Forest), off which I live which leads into Leah Street, Forestville (a street narrower than most outer suburban dead end streets).

Spare a thought though for those that live in the City of Unley. They have to try and get into that traffic flow in the morning and then as we saw on TV a few nights back accused of stalling the southern rat runners by wanting to turn right to get into the street where they live and holding up those who live further south.

The people have been telling the government that they should be putting more effort into solving growing transport problems before coming up with 30 year Development Plans, particularly for the Inner Rim Councils.

An interesting observation this considering the one real positive legacy this state government can pin their hats on is transport. Their focus has been on both public and private transport even though criticized endlessly on both including for buses etc running behind time.

The Government have been busy on both the Northern and Southern Expressways and (is it called) the Superway at the top end of South Road. Then there is the link from the Northern Expressway to Port Adelaide. Earlier they created the Gallipoli underpass at the Anzac Highway and South Road intersection (Remember “not happy Rann”) and created an overpass for the trams at South Road, Black Forest.

Opposition Leader Izzy has come out and flagged they will concentrate more on private transport than public at a time when the trains are down, the Noarlunga (now Seaford) line for 8 months as they (the government) electrify the line.

I heard in the RAA storey about a need to revisit the ring route around the City.

An absolute necessity and maybe the Liberals have an answer to that. Looking forward to what Izzy might come up with because Unley needs breathing space, particularly as the housing density grows.

In the meantime I say be thankful for what the Government is doing (notwithstanding the pain us locals are suffering right now as documented in many posts on this blog site) with the public transport system. If we can get more people on the trains this must help the roads.

If there is a ring route answer for Adelaide’s car drivers even better.

The next 15 months of electioneering by both Major Parties should be fascinating. Whichever party makes it in March 2014 I trust they will work closely with the likes of the City of Unley to find the best solutions. Solutions that work for those commuters who have lost 3 days of their year and those who once lived in quiet suburban streets but now find themsleves living on a thoroughfare.

This is the challenge.