‘Five have died, 80 been hurt’: Residents push for duplication of Main South Rd
Desperate residents in Adelaide’s south are vowing to fight for an upgrade of a road where dozens have been hurt and five have died, forming a group to lobby for change.
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Residents have formed an “action group” to lobby the State Government to make part of Main South Rd two lanes each way, saying too many had already lost their lives on it.
More than 100 people attended a public meeting at the Aldinga Football Club on Monday, November 28, to discuss forming the Main South Rd Seaford to Sellicks Action Group.
The group will push for the duplication of Main South Rd from Seaford to Sellicks Beach, in a move it hopes will cut crashes and fatalities.
There have been more than 50 crashes resulting in about 80 injuries along the stretch of road over the past 10 years.
Five people have died along the road over the same period.
Aldinga Bay Business and Tourism Association chair Hazel Wainwright, who is also a local councillor, said: “The death, there is a lot of death on this road, and it is just not good enough having just a two-lane highway.”
Ms Wainwright said the group would write to Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan about the duplication.
“We are drafting a letter to look at the statistics and look at the projections,” she said.
“There are going to be direct flights to China from December 13 and this is one of the best regions in the world for wine and they’ll be coming here.”
The group’s chairman, Craig Curtis, said after the meeting it was “about time we stop getting the scraps the State Government throws our way and do something about it”.
Mr Curtis said residents had “a lot of anger, passion and emotion” about the issue.
“We are going to lobby and petition the government to stop wasting money, stop the $11 million upgrade and start the 30-year plan straight away,” Mr Curtis said.
“That road is just terrible between Aldinga and Seaford — we want a duplicated road because the area is just getting massive,” Mr Curtis said.
“The millions and millions of dollars they spent on the Northern Expressway and where does that go? It bypasses Gawler and goes to Nuriootpa and we’re bigger than them.”
The government has announced an $11 million upgrade of the road, between Old Coach and Malpas roads.
It will include a roundabout, speed limit reductions from 80km/h to 70km/h and road widening.
Work will get underway next month and be finished before the end of 2017.
The government has spoken against duplicating the road anytime soon, saying it is “not economically viable” because of low traffic volumes.
Untold grief
THE grief that comes with seeing someone killed in a road accident is something SA Ambulance Service Volunteer Kristy Clarke would not wish on anybody.
But the 36-year-old is constantly reminded of her past traumas when she sees motorists driving dangerously along Main South Rd.
Ms Clarke is based at Yankalilla Station which does not tend to crashes at Aldinga, however she regularly travels along Main South Rd transporting patients to Noarlunga and Flinders hospitals.
She says she often sees drivers crossing double lines, speeding and overtaking in front of oncoming traffic.
“For people like me as a volunteer, it doesn’t just raise the concern for an accident but it also is a reminder of all the other accidents we have witnessed,” Ms Clarke says.
“We volunteers experience trauma from those accidents and we experience the death of people on the road.
“We don’t want our local community to experience that same grief we have experienced on roads.”
Ms Clarke, of Noarlunga Downs, is one of the many southern residents getting behind the push to duplicate the road.
“If something was to happen to me, I have a husband and seven children — that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” she says.
“Duplicating the road would allow for free-flow of traffic for normal vehicles to travel at the posted speed limit.”