Adelaide Hills residents short-changed by Hahndorf bypass backflip according to state opposition
The opposition has claimed Labor has ripped $80 million away from a regional Adelaide Hills community as part of its controversial decision to scrap a proposed freeway interchange.
Adelaide Hills & Murraylands
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Adelaide Hills residents have been short-changed $80 million by the state government’s decision to “de-invest” and scrap a proposed Hahndorf freeway interchange to reduce traffic congestion, despite strong community support for the project.
That’s according to the opposition, who had allocated funding towards the project when previously in government.
However, the government has hit back saying each of the four proposed bypass options on the table were flawed and the Liberal government’s preferred model – which would have seen a bypass built in Paechtown – significantly impacting property, including the iconic Beerenberg Farm.
In 2020, $250 million was committed under the previous government to a new bypass near the Hahndorf township earmarked to ease traffic congestion in the busy tourist town.
But plans for a new interchange were scrapped by Labor in September 2022, with the government citing community feedback regarding the impact a bypass would have on the surrounding environment, heritage, business and property.
Instead, the government is funding upgrades to the Mount Barker and Verdun interchanges while improving Hahndorf’s main street.
Documents obtained in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request have revealed the estimated cost of the revised project, as of August last year, at $171 million; $80 million short of the $250 million committed by the former government.
The new costing breakdown reveals $67 million will be spent on the Mount Barker interchange upgrade, $34 million allocated for the Hahndorf main street upgrade and $13 million for the extension of the Pioneer Women’s Trail.
Hahndorf Community Association representative Jeremy Roberts – a member who is spearheading a community campaign to save plans for a new bypass – said the community had been short-changed by the government’s decision to “de-invest” in the project.
“Documents reveal the savings by scrapping the bypass set at $80m … are we supposed to be relaxed about the government de-investing in our town by $80 million?” he said.
“The government owes Hahndorf an $80 million bypass and interchange, as planned and funded.”
The opposition has also called out the government on what it called the “misrepresentation of community feedback on the Hahndorf interchange”.
According to the Liberal Party, public consultation on the first three options for the interchange in April and June 2021 revealed support for the project, with more submissions in support of each option than against.
When consultation was carried out for a fourth option in November and December 2021, 55 per cent of the written submissions were supportive of the interchange.
Shadow Infrastructure and Transport Minister Vincent Tarzia said Labor was “using smoke and mirrors to change the narrative”.
“Labor keeps saying this project isn’t supported by the local community, but the cold hard facts tell us otherwise. it’s unacceptable to rip $80 million out of a regional community under false pretences,” he said.
Member for Heysen Josh Teague said Hills residents told him they felt short-changed by the scrapping of the interchangeand costings found in FOI documents “certainly back them up”.
However, a spokesman for Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the government was aware there was strong support in the community for a bypass, but none of the options of the table were viable.
“The former Liberal government planned to rip a transport corridor through one of South Australia’s best-loved tourist attractions once it realised that its previous bypass options would create opposition in the local community,” he said.
“This was not an option the Labor government considered fair or viable, yet the Liberals remain hellbent on carving through Beerenberg Farm.”
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