SA Election 2018: Liberal leader Steven Marshall promises to make North Terrace tram services turn right

TRAMS will turn right on to North Terrace from King William St in Adelaide’s CBD — if the State Liberals win government.

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TRAMS will turn right on to North Terrace from King William St — if the State Liberals win government, under a $37 million promise to be delivered in their first term.

The State Government last year announced it would spend $80 million on an upgrade to deliver four new stops, one at Festival Plaza behind Parliament House and three along North Tce to service the museum and library precinct as well as universities and the East End.

However, the notorious intersection drew criticism for not permitting a right-hand turn that would seamlessly connect services on the Glenelg line with the East End.

Works to upgrade the intersection were completed earlier this year.

North Terrace and King William St intersection after the completed tram works. Picture: DPTI

On Thursday, the State Liberals pledged they will fix “Labor‘s tram joke and let trams turn right”.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said the announcement was the first in a series of Liberal public transport plans to be rolled out in coming days.

Labor has promised a tram to Norwood, in the middle of Mr Marshall own electorate, which the Liberals have rejected.

Labor is also promising a tram through North Adelaide.

Mr Marshall said trams on North Tce, and the state, should turn right after the election.

“They were more concerned about getting this tram open before the election than doing the job right in the first instance,” he said.

“It’s going to be in the Budget from day one.

“We need to have an ability to get people down to the east of Adelaide.”

Mr Marshall said it would allow more people to get to the redeveloped old Royal Adelaide Hospital site, where the Liberal plan to build a new international hospitality school and world-leading Indigenous art and culture gallery as well as start-up small business hub.

Mr Marshall was unable to say how long traffic would be interrupted during the build time.

On its official Twitter account, Labor said: “The Liberals’ ill thought out plan, developed by East End property developers not engineers, will cause chaos for cars and pedestrians.”

“SA Liberals have just announced a policy that will shut down for more than a month the North Tce intersection and cause traffic chaos,” it said.

“Expert traffic modelling indicates that there will be a 30 per cent increase in overall delays at North Tce intersection.”

The Liberals ill thought out plan, developed by East End property developers not engineers will cause chaos for cars and pedestrians.

This decision is even more bizarre considering the SA Liberals don't support extending the tram to Norwood or around the CBD.

— SA Labor (@alpsa) March 7, 2018

Mr Marshall said Labor “talk a lot about trams” but failed to deliver.

“I don’t trust any modelling that this government has ever done with regards to traffic flow,” he said.

“Trams turn right across the world, and should be turning right on North Tce.”

Property Council president and CBD investor Steve Maras said the Liberal plan “will right the wrongs of the State Government, which initially told South Australians that the extension would allow trams to turn right from King William St heading east on to North Tce”.

“The message to all political parties is simple. Just do things properly the first time and avoid repeating past mistakes like the one-way Southern Expressway — and make no mistake, this was the Government’s Southern Expressway moment,” Mr Maras said.

Crews working on the King William Street and North Terrace tram lines. Picture: DPTI

Previous expert analysis commissioned by the Greens revealed a right turn for trams on North Tce would cost an estimated $37 million.

The documents were produced by the new Parliamentary Budget Advisory Service in February in response to an application by Greens MP Mark Parnell.

It declined a request to model a cost of including a right hand turn as part of the original build.

However, the PBAS also warns that its estimate for a new build is of “low reliability” and “detailed costing will need to be undertaken to deliver a better cost estimate”.

“To add a right turn, the full intersection will be reconstructed to adjust the plane of the entire intersection to an acceptable gradient,” PBAS chief executive John Hill reports.

“There are significant risks with the geometry of the intersection that impact whether trams could safely navigate through right hand turn movements.”