Speaker Dan Cregan reveals plans for third $40m South-Eastern Freeway safety arrester bed

Speaker and Hills MP Dan Cregan has revealed plans for a $40m third freeway arrester bed after July’s horrific truck crash. See the sites here.

Plans for a $40m third South Eastern Freeway safety bed to stop more carnage at the downtrack’s end have been commissioned by Speaker Dan Cregan ahead of a safety summit next week.

Another serious truck crash on July 24 sparked pleas for safety reforms at the freeway bottleneck, including the installation of a third arrester bed for truck drivers unable to stop along the steep descent.

Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis will spearhead Wednesday’s round table meeting with participants including SA Police, the RAA and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.

Mr Cregan, an independent MP whose Adelaide Hills electorate of Kavel includes Mount Barker, said he had engaged Greenhill engineers to identify a third arrester bed site and would present the plans at the summit.

The Dulwich-based firm pinpointed a downtrack site just before the tollgate and the Mira Monte Estate housing complex, which Mr Cregan believed would cost about $40m.

Mr Cregan said he urged a transport industry roundtable in a late-July letter to Mr Koutsantonis and Premier Peter Malinauskas and was “grateful that the government has responded quickly to that proposal”.

“The Glen Osmond Rd / freeway intersection is one of the most dangerous in our state.

Lives were tragically lost at the intersection in 2010, 2014 and 2015. It was remarkable that no lives were lost on July 24,” he said.

“I support all possible solutions to improve safety in the freeway corridor.”

The major crash on July 24 at the bottom of the freeway, in which a truck ploughed into seven cars and a bus. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Nine people were taken to hospital after a runaway truck on July 24 ploughed through seven cars and a bus at the busy Portrush, Cross and Glen Osmond roads intersection at the bottom of the freeway.

Mr Cregan, a former Liberal who was re-elected as an independent at the March 19 state poll, urged continued work on a greater Adelaide freight bypass.

He also raised three other potential safety solutions:

AN underpass or grade separation at the freeway’s end to enable smoother traffic flow.

SPEED monitoring of heavy vehicles before and during the descent, using overhead gantries and other measures.

STUDY similar freeway descents elsewhere for engineering, driver training, technical and regulatory solutions.

Mr Koutsantonis on Wednesday said state and federal governments had committed $75m to refit and upgrade the Heysen Tunnels and $75m for better safety features between Crafers and the Glen Osmond tollgate.

“Of course, we cannot prevent every instance of poor decision-making or driver error, but we can ensure the downtrack is as safe as it can be for all road users,’’ Mr Koutsantonis said.