Federal Labor pledges $1.2 billion towards North-South Corridor

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will today announce a $1.2 billion commitment for the final piece of the North-South Corridor.

• Key $801m South Rd upgrade opened
• New funding doubts over Adelaide’s non-stop north-south corridor
• How the 78km non-stop north-south corridor was announced in 2015

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will today announce a $1.2 billion commitment for the final piece of the North-South Corridor.

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten. Picture: AAP Image/James Ross

Mr Shorten will visit Adelaide where he will pledge to include the funding for the section of South Rd between the Glenelg tram overpass and Tonsley in his first Budget if he is elected prime minister.

The funding will depend on a dollar-for-dollar commitment from the State Government.

It will help to fund what is regarded as the most complicated and expensive part of the corridor.

“Investing in infrastructure isn’t just about traffic and transport — it’s about giving Adelaide room to grow and attract new jobs and economic opportunities,” Mr Shorten told The Advertiser.

“This is an investment in the local economy and local jobs. It will change the face of Adelaide’s roads network, improving travel time for commuters and more efficiently moving more freight and cutting the travel time for the state’s exports.”

The North-South Corridor will provide a 78km journeyfree of traffic lights between Gawler and Old Noarlunga, once it is completed.

Funding for the project has been included in the Coalition’s 10-year outlook for infrastructure projects, but not in the forward estimates.

The allocation of funding has drawn criticism from State and Federal Labor, which have argued it is a sign South Australia has been dudded.

But the State Government has consistently played down concerns, arguing construction for the final piece of the project would not start until 2021-22 regardless.

Mr Shorten said South Rd was one of Adelaide’s most important transport corridors.

“However, the road is increasingly congested, plagued by high accident rates and is unable to cater for the heavy vehicles needing to use it,” he said.

“It is not fit for the state’s future needs.”

He said without investment, the annual economic cost of congestion in Adelaide would “more than double to $3.8 billion by 2031”.

Last month State Infrastructure Minister Stephan Knoll told the Sunday Mail two separate traffic tunnels beneath South Rd were being seriously considered by the State Government as the multibillion-dollar fix for the city’s major motorway.

The project could cost $5 billion.

A few weeks later Civil Contractors Federation chief executive Phil Sutherland said road funding — highlighted in The Advertiser’s Fair Go for the Regions as a key concern — would be a key election issue.

The latest report from Infrastructure Australia, the independent authority that is the key source of advice for the Federal Government on nationally significant infrastructure needs, does not have a single SA road listed as a high-priority project.