One million native trees, shrubs planted alongside Northern Connector
Almost one million native trees and shrubs — many grown from seed — are being planted alongside the $885 million Northern Connector. TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR
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Almost 930,000 native trees and shrubs are being planted alongside the $885 million Northern Connector.
The six-lane motorway will link the South Rd Superway at Wingfield to the Northern Expressway at Virginia, providing a direct link between Adelaide and Gawler.
Large scale planting of vegetation is occurring on embankments and median strips along its 15.5km length.
Nearly half of the planting of 900,000 small shrubs and ground cover plants and 30,000 trees and taller shrubs is complete.
All of the plants are native, with 95 per cent from the northern Adelaide plains. Many have been grown from seed or cuttings.
Transport Minister Stephan Knoll said the planting of the native vegetation was “one of the untold stories” involving the Northern Connector.
“It’s an impressive feat, especially considering all plants are Australian natives and almost all plants have been grown on site,” he said.
The Northern Connector — most of which has been built from concrete produced at an on-site plant — is due to open later this year.
The four-lane highway begins on the southern edge of Gawler and joins the Northern Connector 2km south of Virginia.
Motorists then drive straight into Adelaide on the Northern Connector from an interchange at Virginia.
The motorway travels between St Kilda and Waterloo Corner to Bolivar, across the back of the Dry Creek salt fields to a new bridge over the Barker Inlet wetlands and onto the South Rd Superway.
Another interchange connects to the Port River Expressway to Port Adelaide and Salisbury Highway to Salisbury.