New tram routes proposed for Adelaide

THE new age of Adelaide’s tram travel is nearly here. Check out the proposed new routes across the city, including four new city loops — and have your say.

New tram routes in the city and across Adelaide have been proposed.

• Who does the voice for the Adelaide trams?

DECADES after we ripped up the tramlines crisscrossing Adelaide, plans are now being prepared to re-lay the tracks.

Four proposed city tram loop extensions have been released for public consultation, including an option to run a tramline through the centre of Victoria Square and past the Central Market.

The State Government is yet to choose its preferred option and is consulting councils and the public.

Proposals have also been released for tramline extensions to Unley, Norwood, Port Adelaide, Prospect and Henley Beach. Preferred options in each of those cases have been identified.

The plans are part of a $4 million business case being prepared for the Federal Government, to lobby for federal funding for the extensions.

The preferred proposed new tram routes across the city.

Old tram tracks under North Tce were discovered during construction works. Source: SA Government.

The CBD tram loop options include routes from North Tce along:

FROME St to Pulteney and Halifax streets, and along Morphett St.

HUTT St and Halifax St, then west to Morphett St.

HUTT St to Angas St — with an option to go west along Wakefield St, through Victoria Square — and right, onto Morphett St.

PULTENEY St, down Halifax St and right, onto Morphett St.

All options turn left on Currie St and join West Tce at Glover Ave.

The final design for the CBD loop would depend on choices made on suburban tram extensions and where these would connect with CBD thoroughfares.

Detailed reports released by the State Government also outline options for routes to extend tramlines into the suburbs.

Preferred routes have been chosen based on analysis of criteria including potential passenger numbers, traffic impacts and construction costs.

Preferred extensions to:

ADELAIDE’S East would run along The Parade at Norwood and Upper Magill Rd.

PORT Adelaide would convert the Outer Harbor train line to light rail and erect tramlines to West Lakes and Grange, with an option to extend to Henley Beach.

PROSPECT via Prospect Rd and O’Connell St in North Adelaide.

UNLEY via Unley and Belair roads.

HENLEY Beach down Glover Ave and Henley Beach Rd, with a spur line to the airport via Airport Rd.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan said Adelaide firm InfraPlan had designed the business case, which would likely be finalised and ready to submit to the Federal Government before the federal Budget mid-next year.

Tram lines are laid on the corner of King William Street and North Tce in 1908.

Mr Mullighan said the Government was seeking community feedback on each of the options before making final recommendations.

“Expanding our tram network will drive development and boost jobs along tram corridors, while getting more people into public transport and reducing pressure on our roads,” he said.

Meanwhile, construction workers carrying out preliminary works for a tram extension east along North Tce have discovered buried tram tracks from Adelaide’s past.

Old sleepers and concrete slabs from the city’s historic tram tracks — built between 1878 and 1883 — have been unearthed using 3D scanning technology.

Much of the tram network was removed or covered by bitumen during the 1950s — except for the Glenelg tram line.