Nicolle Flint: ‘We must fix freeway problem once and for all’

A truck crashes on the SE Freeway every 10 days, causing utter traffic chaos every time. It’s time to ban heavy vehicles, writes Nicolle Flint.

It is a damning indictment on all sides of politics that we still have heavy trucks coming through the Adelaide Hills, and suburban Adelaide.

This dangerous problem should have been fixed long ago.

Yesterday’s truck breakdown, that caused utter traffic chaos, was just another reminder. We must finally commit to fixing this problem once and for all.

The KPMG Globelink Report on SA’s freight network, released early last year, made a range of scathing assessments about Adelaide’s roads.

One was that we are the only capital city where half of our major urban freight routes operate along ordinary suburban roads including Portrush Road and Cross Road.

Another was that road (and rail) freight operators incur large additional costs each day negotiating the steep hills.

Most disturbingly, the Report warned that community safety and amenity is compromised because of the suburban routes the trucks take, resulting in heavy vehicles being over represented in crashes on arterial roads.

Furthermore, on the South Eastern Freeway there is “a truck involved in a crash every 10 days on average”.

Essentially, KPMG told all of us who are regular users of the South Eastern Freeway, Portrush Road and Cross Road, what we already knew.

The gradients coming down through the Hills are dangerous for trucks, and we have all seen the tragic consequences of a truck losing its brakes.

Hills commuters worry about their safety driving along the Freeway, and waiting at the Toll Gate, each and every, day.

Similarly, mums, dads, grandparents and carers hold their breath driving in and out of the multiple schools and childcare centres while dropping off their precious cargo, and crossing the road.

And that’s before we even start on the air and noise pollution along these roads as well.

We should feel for the truckies, too, who face the daily pressure of worrying about the steep hills, and watching car drivers weave in and out in front of them in heavy suburban traffic. Too many drivers don’t understand how long it takes a big vehicle to stop.

For reasons of safety, amenity, productivity, and dragging Adelaide up to the standard of every other capital city, we need to plan and build a heavy vehicle bypass.

We need to take heavy vehicles off the Freeway before Mt Barker to create a short south or a short north route into Adelaide.

This would prevent the breakdowns and the accidents we have seen all too frequently in recent times.

Let’s finally get Adelaide moving, for the safety and productivity of all.

Nicolle Flint is the Boothby MP