Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride first look: Photos and details

An idea conceived in 2017 has finally come to fruition - five years and a few million dollars later. See the designs for this suburb’s new carparking upgrade.

Five years and millions of dollars later, plans for the second Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride have finally been unveiled.

The plans, which described the eventual construction of the project as coming at a cost of $28.7m, were released for consultation to the state’s assessment panel and confirmed how many new parks would actually be provided.

The new four-storey Modbury site would be built alongside an existing interchange on Smart Road, at a ground car park site which cater for about 425 parks.

According to the plans, the new site would provide an extra 511 parks across the existing and new parking sites, though 259 of them would be for the “exclusive” use of TAFE SA – equating to an overall gain of 252 parks.

In total, 837 parking spaces were set to be provided.

Artist visualisations of the long-awaited Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride. Picture: Brown Falconer

The long-awaited second Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride would join to the existing car park. Picture: Brown Falconer

The existing car park had a capacity of 695 spaces, though 30 of them would be removed to provide a link between that facility and the new one.

The new facility was proposed to operate 24/7 and would include CCTV surveillance systems.

A Park ‘n’ Ride facility at the Modbury interchange was first touted back in 2017 when the state budget set aside $15m for upgrades at both Modbury and Klemzig.

Speaking then as a student, new state Labor MP Olivia Savvas told The Messenger car parks at the existing Park ‘n’ Ride were completely gone by 9am forcing users to park in dimly lit streets nearby.

Mounting parking fines collected, by the Tea Tree Gully Council in 2019, more than $600,000 worth, renewed calls to bring forward the facility’s construction.

The new Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride would sit on the site of an existing ground level car park. Picture: Brown Falconer

Artist visualisations of the long-awaited Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride. Picture: ekistics

The timeline for its construction had been fluid despite budget allowances with then Transport Minister Stephan Knoll saying the state government would be prioritising similar facilities at Paradise and Golden Grove.

The $28.7m price tag would be drawn from the latest state budget allotment of $43.5m slated for Park ‘n’ Ride facilities near the Tea Tree Plaza interchange.

Funding of such projects had been earmarked by state governments as crucial to cater for the expansion of Adelaide’s northeastern suburbs.

Public consultation on the Modbury project is open until August 22.