Rex Jory: Was plan to modernise Adelaide's transport an ambitious dream or planner's folly?
WHAT could have been! In August, 1968 the then state government released a plan outlining the current and future transport needs of Adelaide.
WHAT could have been! In August, 1968 - nearly 45 years ago - a comprehensive plan was released by the then state government outlining the current and future transport needs of Adelaide.
The so-called MATS Plan was breathtaking in its vision. Supporters say MATS would have revolutionised and transformed Adelaide into a world-class city.
Critics say it would have destroyed Adelaide with the demolition of thousands of houses and other properties and the construction of raised roadways and four-level spaghetti interchanges and flyovers. The suburb of Hindmarsh would have been engulfed.
The plan recommended the construction of 98km of freeways, 34km off expressway, the widening of 386km of existing arterial roads, the construction of new arterial roads, a new bridge over the Port River, 20 rail grade separations and a rail subway running under King William St.
Property acquisition and construction was costed at an estimated $436.5 million in 1968 terms - roughly the cost of upgrading Adelaide Oval today. More realistically, at today's value the MATS Plan would have cost something like $4.75 billion spread over perhaps two decades or more.
The plan was endorsed by the Liberal and Country League of the day led by premier Steele Hall. Huge tracts of land were acquired. After a bitter public and political debate it was scrapped less than two years later by the incoming Labor government led by Don Dunstan. Within a decade most of the land was sold.
An ambitious dream or a planner's folly? A lost opportunity or a disaster avoided? Efficiency or a quality environment?
We will never know. We do know there will never be another opportunity to implement such a brazen and audacious plan to modernise Adelaide's transport.
Yet only last Monday the RAA called on the State Government to urgently devise a strategic plan to tackle Adelaide's worsening traffic congestion, including road-user charges for motorists travelling on major thoroughfares during peak hours.
The RAA said that for the first time this year the number of vehicles on SA roads would overtake the state's population of 1.654 million. The result, the association warned, would be increased delays for commuters.
"Already there are congestion points where the road system isn't coping and more people and more cars means it is only getting worse," the RAA said. As an example, people living at Torrens Park now spent an extra three working days - 24 hours - on the road each year compared with the same journeys 10 years ago.
No such delays would have occurred if the MATS plan had been embraced as an all-party policy and slowly implemented.
For example, the spine of the plan was a 70km, eight-lane north-south freeway from Elizabeth to Sellicks Beach. It was due to be built by the early 1980s and the drive from Salisbury to Noarlunga would have taken 30 minutes.
Another proposal was for a freeway from the Adelaide Hills into the city, cutting through College Park, St Peters, Norwood, Rose Park, Myrtle Bank and Urrbrae before leaving the city at Belair Road.
A rapid rail network with reduced suburban stations was a key part of the public transport upgrade.
Some elements of the MATS plan have been implemented in part.
The Southern Expressway follows part of the MATS vision. So do sections of the South-Eastern Freeway, and Port River and Dry Creek expressways.
There have been recent attempts to upgrade South Rd as a non-stop north-south route, beginning with the Anzac Highway underpass but similar underpasses at Grange Road, Port Road and beneath the Outer Harbour/Grange railway lines have been shelved.