Port Wakefield overpass time frame will cost region huge tourism dollars, Copper Coast Mayor Roslyn Talbot says

The time frame for a $90 million plan to unblock the state’s worst road bottleneck at Port Wakefield will cost the Yorke Peninsula region huge tourism dollars, Copper Coast Mayor Roslyn Talbot says.

• Feds offer funds for $90m Port Wakefield overpass
• Fair Go: Leaders call for upgrades before population, industry boom

The time frame for a $90 million plan to unblock the state’s worst road bottleneck for tourists will cost the Yorke Peninsula region another three years of bad visitor experiences, Copper Coast Mayor Roslyn Talbot says.

The State Government last month announced work on a much-anticipated overpass at the junction of the Augusta and Copper Coast highways would begin in late 2020.

The state and federally funded overpass, possibly two lanes, will be completed by 2022.

“Although I’m glad the problem is being addressed, I would have hoped it would have started before 2020,” the Mayor said.

An artist impression of the Port Wakefield road duplication.

“It is a really big problem at our busiest times, when visitor numbers triple and the tourism dollar generated at that time is critical to our regional economy — businesses rely on it to survive,” she said.

“If people have a bad experience, they won’t come back and 2022 is another three years of bad experiences for people.”

The overpass site is one of the state’s busiest regional road junctions and is a national and regional link between Adelaide, Port Augusta and the Yorke Peninsula.

It frequently causes holiday chaos with long queues of motorists returning to the city.

Known as “crash corner”, it’s also been the site of two fatal crashes and four serious injury accidents since 2016.

Artist impressions of the Port Wakefield Rd overpass project.

Solutions to the decades-old problem have been circulating for many years, with the latest overpass plan initiated more than two years ago.

Yorke Peninsula is one of the state’s favourite holiday destinations, with more than one million people visiting each year for an average of three nights, generating $211 million a year.

Grey MP Rowan Ramsey said Port Wakefield Rd carried about 8500 vehicles a day, jumping to 14,500 in peak Christmas and Easter holidays.

“This can result in lengthy traffic delays as well as creating a dangerous situation. Thanks to $72 million from the Federal Government and $18 million from the State Government, traffic congestion will be a thing of the past,” he said.