Hahndorf residents mad at scrapped bypass amid revised traffic plan for popular tourism centre

After a proposed solution to ease congestion woes in Hahndorf was scrapped, fed-up residents say the state government is prioritising cost-cutting over safety.

Hahndorf locals Catherine McLeod, with her dog Hunter, Jeremy Roberts, Cathryn Nitschke and son Solomon Nitschke in the Main Street.

A band of angry Hahndorf residents have accused the state government of falling short of its responsibility to deliver safe roads by killing ‘planned and funded projects’ in the wake of the decision to ditch a proposed freeway interchange.

Last year, the former State Government released a strategic planning study for Hahndorf as part of a $250 million Hahndorf improvement and upgrade project which proposed a new interchange on the South Eastern Freeway to divert traffic from the narrow main street of the busy tourist town.

Hahndorf locals Catherine McLeod, with her dog Hunter, Jeremy Roberts, Cathryn Nitschke and son Solomon Nitschke in the Main Street. Picture: Dylan Hogarth

Last month, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis announced the government would scrap a proposed highway interchange citing community feedback regarding the impact it would have on the surrounding environment, heritage, business and properties.

However, Hahndorf resident Jeremy Roberts said the government had missed the mark and support for an interchange to divert heavy traffic from the world-famous tourist centre was at an all-time high.

“They’ve dudded Hahndorf badly and it’s up to the government to put the project back together,” he said.

Mr Roberts said he challenged recent comments made by Premier Peter Malinauskas that the proposed interchange was rejected by locals.

“It’s nonsense on stilts, it’s gaslighting a community of 3000 people and we challenge him to come up to Hahndorf and repeat the comments,” he said.

“This project was studied, it has been funded, planned for, it’s been consulted on but now it's been called off … it makes no sense to locals and it’s a bad misstep.

“This program was shovel ready and backed by a long-suffering community.”

He said he was not alone, citing a new Facebook group dedicated to Hahndorf traffic consultation which has attracted over 170 members and a poll suggested 98 per cent of the group agreed with the need for a new bypass.

Mr Roberts said the growth of the Adelaide Hills region and the industry it supports and the high volume of tourism made the skinny Hahndorf main street an “arterial junction in a middle of a booming area”.

An artist impression of a new pedestrian crossing set to be part of the Hahndorf Township Improvement and Access Upgrade Project.

“You’ve got a village that is a culinary wine and beer centre, world famous for its dining and hospitality, thousands of people on the street every week all year round and simultaneously the government directs thousands of cars and trucks right past their noses.” he said.

“It’s unsustainable and it’s getting worse every year.

“The region is booming, Mount Barker, the surrounding towns and it puts Hahndorf in the role of being a junction for the region; people have to drive through to get to their jobs, their schools and it‘s time we direct heavy traffic away and we thought that’s what we were getting.”

Lifelong Hahndorf resident and business owner Cathryn Nitschke said she was disappointed the government’s revised plans would not solve traffic problems.

“This issue has been a problem for at least 20 years,” she said.

“We’ve had all of these promises and consultations in the past but nothing came but when the funding was allocated we thought, great something is finally going to happen now,” she said.

She said the street swells and comes to standstill often and was not wide enough to support the volume of traffic it is taking and large vehicles created a “massive problem” on the stretch of road.

“The proposal they have made is not going to make any difference to the amount of heavy traffic in the main street … it may even increase the amount of trucks,” Ms Nitschke said.

“We need to get some traffic off and it makes sense to be the bigger vehicles, but they need a decent alternative.”

Fellow business owner Amber Kemp has a cafe on the main street and lives onsite with her family said the traffic situation was often dangerous.

“The whole point (of the project) was to get the trucks off the road … the safety aspect is the worst, tourists are up here enjoying themselves and tend to wander across the road and not understand trucks are going to be there and we are all surprised something hasn’t happened,” she said.

Hahndorf’s main street is set to become even more congested as the population of the Adelaide Hills grows. Picture: Emma Brasier/AAP

Mrs Kemp – who is a member of the Hahndorf Tourism and Business Association – said the government’s plan had some upsides, applauding the plans to cosmetically upgrade the main street.

“And the fact they are doing the Verdun interchange upgrade in both directions is great, but they aren’t addressing the real issue – we know it won’t be fixed overnight but we need to reduce the big vehicles off the road.”

Last week, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Vincent Tarzia slammed the proposal and said the plans could make the congestion in Hahndorf worse.

In response, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Tom Koutsantonis told parliament the government had acted based on the needs of the community.

“You will hear from the opposition that our plan misses the mark, as you can see from their interjections, and goes against the purpose of the project … their only concern would be the commuters looking to bypass Hahndorf and that they would ignore the needs of the Hahndorf community,” he said.

Mr Koutsantonis said the government was taking a balanced approach.

“Our approach will balance the needs of Adelaide Hills commuters while protecting and enhancing local heritage, business and the environment,” he said.

“Upgrades to the Verdun and Mount Barker interchanges will reduce future traffic impacts on Hahndorf, including heavy vehicles.”

“Now that the scope and high-level concept design has been finalised, the next step is developing a detailed design, and feedback from the community will help shape this detailed design.”