How will 1000 new homes add to this city-bound traffic chaos in Adelaide’s inner south-east?

THIS intersection is one of two in Adelaide’s inner south-east choked daily as motorists make their commute into the city. How will a 1000-home estate planned adjacent to them both impact on the chaos?

Peak hour on Fullarton Rd, looking east towards the Greenhill Rd intersection. Picture: Keryn Stevens

• 10-storey living in Adelaide’s leafy east?
• How will the Britannia cope with 1000 new houses?
• Plan for 1000 new homes on land surrounding Glenside hospital
• Preferred builder picked for $300m Glenside development
• Is Adelaide’s east finally to get a new school?

TWO nearby intersections in Adelaide’s inner south-east are choked daily with traffic as motorists make their commute into the city.

How will a 1000-home estate planned adjacent to them both impact on the chaos?

Reporter Dan Jervis-Bardy takes a look:

Managing the congestion

EXTRA turning lanes and new traffic lights are needed to manage congestion as the former Glenside hospital site is transformed into a 1000-home estate, a new report says.

The government and its preferred developer for the 10-year housing project, Cedar Woods, have been looking at ways to deal with an expected increase in traffic around the 17ha site.

A government-commissioned traffic study found intersections at Fullarton Rd/Greenhill roads and Fullarton Rd/Glen Osmond roads were already “operating at capacity” and needed to be upgraded to avoid blowing out travel times for city commuters.

It recommended adding an extra right-hand turn lane for northbound traffic on Fullarton Rd, which it argued would “be sufficient to accommodate” more traffic along the busy thoroughfare.

Traffic lights would also need to be installed at the estate’s western exit onto Fullarton Rd, while a new turning lane would likely be required for traffic entering Greenhill Rd, the report recommended.

Concerns about increased traffic were raised when plans for the redevelopment were released last year, in particular around how Fullarton Rd and Brittania roundabout would cope with more congestion.

1000 homes are planned on this 17 hectare site surrounding the old Glenside Hospital.

More than 30,000 cars travel on Fullarton Rd every day.

Burnside Residents Group spokeswoman Anna Sullivan said extra traffic lights at the estate’s Fullarton Rd intersection were “sensible”.

But Dr Sullivan was concerned about traffic flow for vehicles heading east on Greenhill Rd, after the Fullarton Rd intersection.

“That lane goes from three lanes to two lanes after about 100m … I do not know how they are going to deal with that bottleneck,” Dr Sullivan said.

An RAA travel survey this year found morning peak travel times along Fullarton Rd to the CBD had jumped to 20 minutes — up from 15 in 2005 — due to increased traffic congestion.

Cedar Woods project director Patrick Archer was confident the proposed changes would be enough to cope with increased traffic.

Renewal SA general property manager Michael Buchan, who will oversee the land sale on behalf of the government, said whoever developed the land would pay for the road upgrades.

The traffic report was included as part of the government’s development planning amendments for the former hospital site.

The plan also included:

INCREASING building height limits to up to eight storeys on Fullarton Rd;

RETAINING the site’s State-Heritage building, including the old Asylum building; and

REMOVING 35 trees which are in “poor health”.

In February, the Eastern Courier Messenger reported the government had already ruled out Mercedes College’s bid to have an oval at the site’s southwestern corner preserved as open space for its sports teams.

Consultation on the plan is open until August 17 at sa.gov.au.

A public meeting about the plan is on August 31 at Burnside Civic Centre.