Revealed: Ambitious bid to link KI to mainland
A BOLD plan to link Kangaroo Island to the SA mainland has been revealed as has the eye-watering price tag that the massive project would carry. This is what it might look like.
TOURISM destination Kangaroo Island would be linked to mainland South Australia via a four-lane bridge in a bold plan being spruiked by a consortium of engineers and designers.
If built, the 14km bridge, stretching across the volatile Backstairs Passage, would be four times bigger than any other bridge in Australia.
It would also be one of the longest over-water road vehicle bridges in the world.
Early designs provided to the Sunday Mail show the bridge – modelled on Greece’s famed Rio-Antirron Bridge – has 400m-long cable-stayed spans.
The huge vision comes with a matching price tag – an estimated $4 billion to $5 billion, which would need a significant Commonwealth investment and possibly a private-public partnership and a toll to help recoup costs for investors.
The team behind the proposal, Universal Bridging Consortium, wants, as a first step the State Government to dedicate $100,000 for a pre-feasibility study.
Consortium members, who have worked on mega-projects in other states, say the project is the perfect opportunity for SA to regain its Thomas Playford-like vision and transform its economy.
The project, being led by a former SA Best candidate, has already found support from one of that party’s Upper House MPs, Frank Pangallo, who is calling for it to become the State Government’s No.1 infrastructure priority. “This shouldn’t be dismissed as a pie-in-the-sky idea by the usual naysayers,” Mr Pangallo said.
“The state needs to start doing things that will not only set us apart from the rest of the country but also seize upon the opportunities that exist nowhere else in the world.
“(Kangaroo Island boasts) amazing and exclusive experiences from rugged natural landscapes, unique wildlife and flora and incredible beaches to breathtaking ocean experiences, culinary attractions, food produce and specialist beverages.”
However, Kangaroo Island Mayor Peter Clements has already adopted the spirit of legendary movie character Darryl Kerrigan from The Castle, saying “tell ’em they’re dreamin’” when contacted by the Sunday Mail about the proposal.
“People on Kangaroo Island do not want a bridge even if it was possible,” Mr Clements said. “It would ruin the uniqueness of the island and what it stands for.
“We are not interested … we are not going to become another Gold Coast.”
Kangaroo Island – spruik-ed in brochures as Australia’s natural zoo – is one of the country’s most recognisable and celebrated tourism destinations.
It boasts one of the world’s best hotels and its international airport is undergoing a $18 million upgrade. In February, the island featured heavily in the Crocodile Dundee reboot advertising campaign.
Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth spent “quality family time” on the island for the campaign, swimming with dolphins, cuddling koalas, checking out sea lions and broadcasting the experience to his 14 million followers on his Instagram account. But access to the island, only achieved via air or ferry, has long been regarded as expensive.
A return ferry trip to the island costs about $490, for a family of four in a vehicle, or $300 a person by plane.
The economy of the 4405sq km island, the third largest in Australia behind Tasmania and Melville Island off the Northern Territory, is becoming increas-ingly reliant on agriculture and tourism.
Kangaroo Island has a population of 4702, including 1180 families, according to the 2016 Census.
Universal Bridging Consortium says freight costs to and from the island would be significantly reduced, providing much-needed financial relief for locals, businesses and the farming sector.
The bridge would also include key infrastructure to carry water and telecommunications lines to the island.
A potential renewable energy component could take advantage of well-documented tidal energy in the region to supply power to the surrounding communities.
Consortium member Jason Semanic said the bridge had the potential to be a “nation-building project”.
“To borrow a phrase, ‘build it and they will come’ has never been truer with the project we are proposing,” Mr Semanic said.
“It will lead to the transformation of the Island – local Adelaide residents will travel there for the day, like they do to Victor Harbor or the Barossa, something they don’t do now because of the expense and time-consuming complexities involved in getting there.”
IS THE PRICE OUT OF THE QUESTION?
Other mega projects around the country
$9.3 billion to build the Inland Rail Link between Brisbane and Melbourne via central west NSW.
$1 billion for M1 Motorway upgrades (Brisbane to Gold Coast). An extra $3.3 billion for Bruce Hwy.
$5.4 billion to build Western Sydney Airport.
$971 million for the Coffs Harbour Bypass on Pacific Highway, NSW.
$5 billion for Melbourne Airport Rail Link.
$2.3 billion for Perth’s METRONET rail project.
$560 million for WA’s Bunbury Outer Ring Road.
$461 million to replace Bridgewater Bridge in Tasmania.
SIX OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST BRIDGES
1 Jiaozhou Bay Bridge — Shandong Province, China
World’s longest sea bridge — Length 42.2km
2 Lake Pontchartrain Causeway — Louisiana, USA
World’s longest bridge continuous over water — Length 38km.
3 Vasco da Gama Bridge — Lisbon, Portugal
Longest bridge in Europe — Length 17.2km
4 Great Seto Bridge — Honshū and Shikoku islands, Japan
World’s longest two-tiered bridge. — Length 13.1km
5 Third Mainland Bridge — Lagos Island, Nigeria.
Second longest bridge of Africa — Length 11.8km.
6 Oresund Bridge — Denmark and Sweden.
Connects Sweden and Denmark across Oresund Strait. Length 8km