Adelaide 500: Walking may be the fastest way to get around town as speed restrictions take hold

DREADING another slow crawl home in peak-hour traffic as the Adelaide 500 road restrictions continue to bite? Advertiser.com.au can reveal which roads to avoid and which ones to use on your commute home.

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TRAFFIC data officially reveals what some motorists have already discovered with the Adelaide 500 road restrictions — pedestrians are making it through Adelaide’s eastern suburbs logjam faster than they are.

Transport Department figures show traffic on the worst affected roads on Tuesday morning was even slower than walking speed, and in one case over a 45-minute period almost came to a complete halt at 1.3km/h.

As eastern road entrances to the CBD were cut down from the usual four to two — North Tce and Rundle St — traffic slowed to a crawl, adding an average of 30 minutes on many routes.

RAA spokesman Charles Mountain said official Transport Department traffic times, using bluetooth technology, showed the easiest way to avoid the crawl was not to be in the eastern area of the city between 8:25am and 8:55am or between 5:20pm and 5:50pm.

“We are finding that the worst time generally to be on the roads is between 8:25-8:55am there are 22 sections of road across Adelaide that recorded an average speed that was less than 15km/h,’’ he said.

“Unfortunately the congestion is very widespread.

“With speeds as low at 3-4km/h, as drivers would know that is an average and that would mean standing still for several minutes, before moving one or two car lengths and standing still again.’’

Mr Mountain said the RAA had been heartened by reasonable traffic flow on Monday as the State Government trialled ways of easing the jam, but by Tuesday morning the problem was “as bad as we have seen it’’.

The data showed traffic on Frome St to be among the most affected.

On Tuesday morning, traffic was clocked as slow as 1.8km/h on From St between North Tce and Rundle St.

Be warned: Without proper planning, Adelaide 500 can render many major thoroughfares into car parks.

On Monday morning, it was as slow as 1.3km/h on Frome St, between Rundle St and Grenfell St, and 1.8km/h between Grenfell St and Pirie St.

Dequetteville Tce, Hutt St (between Pirie and Wakefield streets), and Bartels Rd will remain closed until 5pm on Monday, and Fullarton Rd lane restrictions will be lifted at the same time.

Wakefield Rd and parts of East Tce will be closed until 1pm on Monday.

Mr Mountain said: “During the morning, the roads that were hit hardest by the congestion were Greenhill Rd, Portrush Rd, and Glen Osmond Rd’’.

“Unfortunately there is not enough data to comment on how Payneham Rd has performed, although based on previous surveys we know that it traditionally is the hardest hit by the road closures.”

Mr Mountain said the extension of clearway hours on some of critical routes around the road closures had helped to a degree.

“That has helped and there are other roads that could be looked at, but the idea that school drop off could be made half-an-hour earlier just for the week is something that could be examined by schools in the critical zone and that could give people some flexibility,” he said.

“For some people leaving early is just not an option and the school drop off is one case in point.”