Coronavirus cuts down Adelaide’s traffic by up to half as people work from home
Driving on major Adelaide roads right now is a very different feeling, with enormous drops in traffic across they city.
SA News
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The Adelaide traffic snarl has been all but wiped out by the coronavirus, and roadworkers are cashing in on the vehicle down time.
The Transport Department has released data showing, at its lowpoint, traffic has been cut by 56 per cent as city workers are sent to work from home.
Transport Department manager of traffic control Mark Shotton said there were large reductions in traffic across all intersections.
“Congestion has largely disappeared from most of the network,’’ he said. “However, we still urge motorists to take care on the roads and adhere to all speed restrictions.
“With less traffic, motorcyclists in particular may be harder to see.”
RAA traffic expert Charles Mountain said the most remarkable reduction in traffic had been on Sir Donald Bradman Drive at the Airport intersection, where volume had slumped by 56.4 per cent, between March 22 and 28.
“That is the really interesting one, which shows just how much traffic that intersection takes to the airport, and I expect that to drop further,’’ he said. But he said all intersections had by last week recorded huge decreases.
“The other intersections which have lost a lot of volume and the very busy corridors into the CBD,’’ Mr Mountain, pictured, said.
During last week the Port Rad/James Congdon Drive intersection had lost 29.5 per cent of its traffic flow and the Glen Osmond/Greenhill Rd intersection 32.8 per cent.
The Tapleys Hill/Anzac Highway/Brighton Rd intersection has dropped by 24.1 per cent; and, the Cross Rd/Goodwood Rd intersection 31.2 per cent.
The city’s main north-south freight route has also been hit by the downturn. In the last week of March the Main North Rd/Regency intersection lost 21.9 per cent of its traffic and the Payneham Rd/Portrush Rd intersection 21.5 per cent.
Mr Shotton said the traffic downturn had allowed far more minor maintenance to be carried out on the network.
He said the department had allowed “longer windows for roadworks and maintenance as the impact to peak traffic is reduced”.
“This has the added benefit of some works being able to be completed quicker,” he said.
“In addition, some works that are normally undertaken at night due to lower traffic volumes can be undertaken during the day.
“An added benefit of this is less disruption to residents who live close to these works.”