Adelaide 500 road closures to cause city traffic delays of up to 30 minutes during peak hour

MOTORISTS have been told to add 30 minutes to the daily commute as annual Adelaide 500 traffic restrictions begin.

AS road restrictions start today for the Adelaide 500, motorists can expect some short-term misery with an average 30 minutes added to peak-hour commutes.

Lane restrictions begin with Dequetteville Tce at 10am as transport bosses warn of more road closures from Saturday.

Each year the extent of the traffic dislocation is measured by the Transport Department and figures from last year’s delays show in-bound drivers on Payneham Rd and The Parade from Monday will add about 25 minutes to their journey.

On Glen Osmond and Greenhill roads it’s an extra 20 minutes.

Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan said motorists must plan ahead and leave half an hour early.

“We know that with major roads closed to traffic in the city delays are inevitable but there are plenty of things you can do to minimise the pain,’’ he said.

“Try to leave home before 7.30am or after 9.30am, or better still work from home, if your job allows it.’’

The 2017 figures show many roads are affected by the closures – and motorists must allow an extra five-10 minutes go get through the parklands and CBD.

Adelaide 500 traffic restrictions around the CBD.

The worst of the delays will be on Greenhill Rd eastbound which will have an 18 minute delay; Magill Rd city-bound and Portrush Rd southbound in the morning, adding about 15 minutes,

Mr Mullighan said for this year’s event, the Transport Department had carefully looked at improving traffic flow, and implemented new monitoring measures. He said remote monitoring from the department’s traffic headquarters allowed adjustments of lights to be made to improve flows.

“Two mobile traffic cameras will be deployed in addition to 800 permanent cameras across the road network,’’ he said, adding: “They will feed extra images back to the headquarter’s video surveillance wall where additional specialist staff will again live monitor the road network, continually tweaking signalling to maximise green time. Mr Mullighan told The Advertiser: “Police and bus operations staff will also again join the traffic team in the traffic centre.’’

Police will target motorists using dedicated bus lanes and all roadworks on main feeder roads into the east of the city have been cancelled.

Also, more electronic travel time signs will be used, buses given greater leeway and messages warning of live traffic bottlenecks issued via the AddInsight app.