Adelaide City Council to spend further $160k on Hindley St repair

ADELAIDE City Council will spend a further $160,000 to repair the botched $4 million redevelopment of Hindley St West.

Hindley Street Road Surface

• URGENT REPAIRS: Hindley St slip-up continues to haunt council
• BUNGLE: Stage two of redevelopment to retain bitumen
• SAFETY MEASURES: Speed limit slashed to 10km/h

ADELAIDE City Council will spend a further $160,000 to repair the botched $4 million redevelopment of Hindley St West.

The Hindley St West project, led by UniSA and funded by the council, state and federal government, was completed in June 2014 and was designed to create a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-traffic environment.

The result was a nightmare for the City Council, when the pavers used on the section of road failed to pass traction tests.

Now the council will now remove the grit-coated stone pavers of the Hindley St West roadway and resurface it with what was there beforehand — asphalt.

The estimated total cost of the works is $160,000 and the council says it will explore opportunities for recycling the existing pavers.

This latest chapter in the embarrassing saga comes after the council trialled other methods to fix the slippery paver problem.

Initially, he speed limit was then slashed to 10km/h until a special grit coating was eventually sprayed on the area between Liverpool and Register streets.

At a cost of about $50,000, the council was left red-faced.

And then the coating wore off, and the council discovered it had to regularly apply it to ensure the road remained safe for motorists.

The cost of these works has been worn by the council, but it is working with UniSA to attempt to resolve the matter commercially with the contractors.

Lord Mayor Martin Haese said the whole process had been less than ideal.

“I acknowledge this is disappointing,” he said.

“Any public project that involves some element of rework is disappointing.

“However in the larger scheme of the project, this $160,000 investment will ensure that we have a safe road surface for all users and minimise any interruption to our surrounding traders.

“And in the wider context we still have a wonderful new streetscape on Hindley St West which everybody is enjoying and is part of the renaissance of that area.

“This is a permanent fix and we are doing this in the interest of public safety.”

Works will commence over four nights from February 1, from 7pm until 6am.

Upon completion, the council will maintain the 30km/h speed limit.

The initial cost of the project was $4 million.

The development was criticised at the time by local traders because of delays and a loss of foot traffic while construction was ongoing.

When asked if there was a chance costs could blow out further on the project, Mr Haese said he was confident this stage would be the end of the project.

“This is a job which we will be very, very focused on ensuring that we start on Monday night and we do it over four quick nights and we do it well.”