Road closures for the VALO Adelaide 500 begin as motorists are urged to plan ahead and seek alternative commute options

With the long awaited return of Adelaide’s great race nearly upon us, eastern suburbs residents are being urged to prioritise public transport or work from home for two weeks.

Eastern suburbs residents are being urged to prioritise public transport or work from home with the VALO Adelaide 500 triggering road closures that will cause major delays over the next two weeks.

The RAA is calling on motorists to start reconsidering their daily commutes as the first of the road closures set to come into effect on Friday.

Several major roads east of the CBD will be impacted, including Payneham Rd, Magill Rd, Kensington Rd and Greenhill Rd.

RAA safety and infrastructure senior manager Charles Mountain said less cars on the road will make a big difference.

RAA Senior Manager Safety and Infrastructure Charles Mountain this afternoon at the launch of National Road Safety Week 2022 at Elder Park. Picture: RAA

“With the Adelaide 500 returning for the first time in almost two years, it’s likely some motorists will get caught out by long delays tomorrow morning if they aren’t prepared for road closures,” he said.

“To reduce congestion, commuters who head east-west in the morning should consider leaving their car at home while the restrictions are in place – whether that means taking public transport, cycling, walking or simply working from home.

Mr Mountain said anyone who does need to drive through the area should allow at least an extra 20 minutes for their journey.

Scott McLaughlin, winner of race 2 at the Adelaide 500 Supercar event, Sunday, February 23, 2020. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The RAA will be monitoring the impacts of the road closures and providing further advice on alternate routes in the coming days.

“An RAA survey in 2018 showed Tuesday and Wednesday were the worst days for congestion when the race restrictions were in place, when travel speeds fell below 15km/hr for more than 50 sections of road heading into the city,” Mr Mountain said.

“Because we haven’t seen how the race being held at this time of year affects the road network, we will be conducting similar research for the first few days of restrictions in order to advise which roads and routes are being most impacted.”

South Australian drivers Nick Percat, Tim Slade, Scott Pye and Todd Hazelwood with the Number One ticket holder Jake Burton at the Official launch for the 2022 Adelaide 500 in Victoria Square earlier this year. Picture: Kelly Barnes

It comes as the state government – partnering with the Get Home Safe Foundation and Supercar driver Todd Hazelwood – launched a new road safety campaign to coincide with the return of the Supercars.

The campaign ‘What Happens On The Track, Stays On The Track. Keep It Off The Road’ is aimed at reducing the number and severity of road crashes during the race period.

Police Minister Joe Szakacs said he wanted to see every race goer get safely back to their home.

“We know that speed is a contributing factor in 31 per cent of all crashes where lives are lost and 26 per cent of crashes resulting in serious injury,” he said.

“Highly trained, professional race drivers like Todd Hazelwood can handle Supercars on the track, but people should not try to copy their heroes out on the road.”

For a full list of road closures click here.