Significant river red gum trees make way for $20 million Golden Grove Road upgrade
Giant river red gums are being cut down to make way for the $20 million upgrade of Golden Grove road — but nobody can say how many.
North & North East
Don't miss out on the headlines from North & North East. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Significant trees: Legislation making it too easy to cut down
- Tree planting plan on new houses faces backlash
Scores of giant river red gums are being cut down to make way for a $20 million upgrade of Golden Grove Rd.
Contractors this month started felling the first of an unspecified number of the significant and regulated trees, which are being sacrificed to accommodate the first stage of the much-anticipated road upgrade
The Transport Department was unable to clarify, before The Advertiser’s deadline, how many trees would be removed for the project, which involves upgrading 3.4km of the road between One Tree Hill Rd and Park Lake Drive.
Christies Beach resident Yuri Poetzl, who has been monitoring the department’s tree removals, said he was told by a staff member at King Liberal MP Paula Luethen’s office that about 200 trees were slated to be cut down. He estimated some of the trees were hundreds of years old.
“Now that (the department) doesn’t require approval to remove roadside significant trees, the public can’t find out how many trees are going or examine the merits of their removal,” he said.
“It appears several of the trees recently removed at Golden Grove were not in the path of roadworks.”
Ms Luethen did not know how many trees would be removed but said minimising the loss was an “important consideration” throughout the design process.
The project involves creating seven right-hand turn lanes, a roundabout at the Golden Grove Rd and Hancock Rd intersection, an intersection upgrade of Grove Way and Yatala Vale Rd and 13 indented bus bays.
There will also be six pedestrian crossings, on-road bicycle lanes and a footpath on the western side of Golden Grove Rd for the length of the project.
The first stage, between Kunzea Way and One Tree Hill Rd, is expected to be finished by mid-2020.
The department issued a vegetation “fact sheet” this month, which said that “alternative options were … adopted, where feasible, to minimise impacts on regulated and significant trees and other vegetation”.
The department said it was also working to manage the effects to vegetation and wildlife.
It will salvage tree hollows and give them to Tea Tree Gully Council to use in parks and reserves. It will also contribute to the council’s revegetation program.