Chaotic traffic damaging brand of SA tourism icon but government providing “best solution”

Chaotic traffic and gridlocked streets are damaging the brand of one of the state’s greatest tourist destinations, according to residents of an Adelaide Hills town.

Infrastructure and Transport Minster Tom Koutsantonis.

Chaotic traffic, gridlocked streets and dangerous vehicle movements are damaging the brand of one of the state’s greatest tourist destinations, according to a band of fed-up Adelaide Hills residents.

The Hahndorf Community Association continues to lobby to save a once-planned South Eastern Freeway interchange for Hahndorf to ease what it says is a dangerous and unsustainable traffic situation.

But the state government has defended its decision to scrap a new bypass and focus on nearby road upgrades as a traffic solution.

An FOI request on Department of Infrastructure and Transport documents seen by The Messenger reveals costs of $171 million for the Hahndorf Township Improvements and Access Upgrade Project, short of the $250 million committed to fund a new bypass solution in 2020.

Infrastructure and Transport Minster Tom Koutsantonis.

However, Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the $250 million was not enough for a new interchange and doubted the effectiveness of a whole new bypass, defending the current scope of the project.

“We’ve gone for the solution that reduces the most traffic and gets people onto the freeway faster and most efficiently, that’s improve Mount Barker and Verdun interchanges,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“Both works will do a lot to reduce traffic in Hahndorf and will take a lot of trucks off (Hahndorf’s main street) and the incremental decrease of traffic into Hahndorf as a result of a Hahndorf bypass would have been quite frankly not as much as people would have thought it would be.”

“Is that extra expenditure going to give the residents what they think they are going to get from a bypass? The truth is, it isn’t – it doesn’t return Hahndorf to a small sleepy town, it doesn’t get rid of trucks in the main street.

“There’s already a bypass around Hahndorf and it’s called the South Eastern Freeway and we are making sure Hahndorf can still operate … we are trying to get as many cars in Mount Barker or Verdun that might normally use Hahndorf as a thoroughfare.”

Mr Koutsantonis said Hahndorf would continue to remain busy due to its tourism offerings and the main street businesses relied on the heavy volume of traffic.

“Hahndorf is a very busy and popular town and a lot of people who travel to Hahndorf – it’s one of our most popular tourist attractions in the state, almost 100,000 vehicles visit,” he said.

“The idea that we can return Hahndorf to a sleepy country town is not going to happen given the nature of the tourism offering in Hahndorf, and that’s growing.

“Nearly half the traffic that visits Hahndorf, no matter what bypass you build, it’s still going to be using it because they are people who live, work there and are servicing Hahndorf, there is a lot of traffic … that this bypass wouldn’t stop.”

Last month, the Hahndorf Community Association chair Greg Lomax highlighted the section of the main street being used as part of the north-south truck commuter route from the Barossa and northern Hills through to Echunga and the Fleurieu Peninsula as a key issue.

He said the strip would continue to be used by heavy vehicles despite nearby interchange upgrades.

However, Minister Koustantonis said even a new bypass would not provide much relief.

“The north-south transit route only impacts half the main street so there would be almost no reduction in one half of the Hahndorf main street and even then the incremental decrease by building the bypass doesn’t reduce it much at all,” he said.

Mr Koustantonis doubled down on recent comments the government would not need to explore a Hahndorf traffic solution for up to five to 10 years, however Mr Lomax slammed the response and said action was required now.

“The town is bursting with traffic and visitors and needs the bypass now,” Mr Lomax.

“The premier committed to adequate transport investment in the hills before the election, but instead has scrapped this much-needed bypass for the most visited main atreet in the state.

“Hahndorf doesn’t have five years, or 10 years, its brand is being damaged by a lack of public investment, its amenity, safety and traffic congestion, for residents and tourists alike, is slipping fast.”