SA Water to replace ageing water main on Jetty Rd, disrupting Glenelg traders even more
ALREADY frustrated Jetty Rd traders are bracing themselves for even more disruption, with SA Water to begin a major upgrade of the street’s 140-year-old water main within weeks.
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ALREADY frustrated Jetty Rd traders are bracing themselves for even more disruption, after official confirmation from SA Water on Sunday that it will begin a major upgrade of the street’s water main within weeks.
SA Water chief executive Roch Cheroux said that the work — expected to take up to 10 weeks — would commence as soon as the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) had finished its current upgrade of the tramline.
Jetty Rd has been shut to traffic since May 15 for a major upgrade of the tramline, which DPTI expects to be completed by June 9.
The upgraded tram tracks will reduce vibration and noise from trams.
Mr Cheroux said SA Water was replacing the main water pipe under the iconic tourist strip and had started communicating with the council and businesses to co-ordinate the works.
“We’ll do our work overnight to avoid disrupting the traders,” he said.
But Jetty Rd Main Street Committee chair Mark Faulkner described the works as “cruel” and that traders were currently experiencing a minimum 20 per cent drop in takings because of the tram upgrade.
“We’ve had enough pain with the tram works, let alone having to follow up with another 10 weeks of disruption to the street,” he said.
“Everyone is down in takings — some people are down just 20 per cent, but I’ve heard others are down 90 per cent in takings. I hope they can hang on.”
Mr Cheroux said Jetty Rd would be open during the day, but Mr Faulkner said the presence of SA Water machinery would continue to disrupt daytime trading. Then there is the impact on businesses that relied on night-time trade, he added.
“The amount of cafes, restaurants, takeaway eateries ... they’re going to hurt and be put through another lot of pain,” he said.
“I would like to know (from SA Water), couldn’t this be something that could be done in a year’s time, to give the traders some time to bounce back and recover from these four weeks we’re losing of trade while the street’s being shut down?”
But Mr Cheroux said the planning of the works immediately following the tram upgrade was designed to minimise future disruption and that the water main upgrade and tramline upgrade couldn’t be done simultaneously due to the complex nature of both works.
“(This) is a good example of planning where our activity, following DPTI activity, will mean as little disruption to trading as possible,” he said.
“We are doing it as quickly as possible in a safe way, and we talk to the traders so we can minimise the impact on their activity as much as possible.”
He said there would be no disruption to water supply.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that a plan to stop cyclists getting their wheels caught in Jetty Rd’s new tram tracks has been scrapped.
The Transport Department had originally intended to install rubber inlays on the tracks to make it easier for riders to cross the tram line without falling off their bikes.
But the department last week said the inlays would not be used, following concerns they would not hold up to high temperatures in summer.
RAA road safety senior manager Charles Mountain advised the government on how to improve cyclist safety around stop 16, where riders are forced to cross from the left into the middle of the tram tracks.
He said while rubber inlays were common in Europe, it was not known whether they would cope with Australian heat.
“It hasn’t been used in Australia and we had some concerns about the extreme Australian environment and the life expectancy of that as well,” Mr Mountain said.
The inlays would have filled the gap where the trams’ wheels go on the side of each track.
A tram is heavy enough to squash them down, but a bicycle can glide over them.
