Aldinga Interchange on Main South Rd duplication taking shape as Majors Rd widening hits milestone
Two enormous road projects in Adelaide’s south costing about a billion dollars have hit major new milestones – see the video.
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Two huge road projects in Adelaide’s southern suburbs have hit critical milestones in a bid to “unclog” the roads of tens of thousands of cars.
Eighteen massive SA-made girders weighing up to 14 tonnes each have been craned into position for a $120m project to widen the Majors Rd bridge over the Southern Expressway.
Meanwhile, a new interchange and realigned intersection of Aldinga Beach and Aldinga roads – a major piece of stage two of the Main South Road duplication from Aldinga to Sellicks Beach – is taking shape.
The Aldinga Beach and Aldinga roads junctions will be realigned and an underpass built at where the newly realigned roads intersect with Main South Road.
Construction has started on 53 columns – or piles – supporting the Aldinga Interchange underpass and bridge structure.
Stage two of the Main South Rd duplication has caused anger among McLaren Vale wineries, who say continuous roadworks are driving away potential customers, with some on the verge of collapse.
At Majors Road, the girders – ranging in length from 23 to 31 metres and each weighing eight to 14 tonnes – were installed over four night shifts using a 300-tonne crane.
The project will widen the Majors Road bridge from two lanes to six, including dedicated right-turn lanes on to the Southern Expressway each way.
On and off-ramps for the Southern Expressway will also be built at the Majors Rd Interchange.
Majors Rd carries around 13,200 vehicles per day and is forecast to reach around 14,700 during peak times by 2036.
Constructed by SA company Bowhill Engineering, each girder was transported almost 150km after their fabrication in Bowhill to the worksite.
Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the state and federal governments were spending close to a billion dollars in the southern suburbs across the two projects.
“We’re using Australian steel, South Australian labour, South Australian concrete,” he said
We’re building really large-scale construction developments and our partners here are doing a great job unlocking the southern suburbs.
“If you combine the traffic on Majors Rd and on Main South Rd near Victor Harbor and Aldinga, you are seeing close to 31,000 motor vehicles per day that were previously clogged – and we’re unclogging that.
“Along with 76,000 vehicles using the South Rd Superway all the way back down to the Southern Expressway, we’re unlocking the south.”
Supporting about 245 jobs, the Majors Road Interchange project is expected to be completed at the end of 2025.
Davenport MP Erin Thompson said: “We’ve been very conscious to minimise any impact on Glenthorne National Park as we meet this significant election commitment to build a new off-ramp for Majors Rd commuters.”
Meanwhile, the new, permanent asphalt section of Main South Road between Hart Rd and Old Coach Rd on the western side of the underpass is now open to traffic.
It will later become the permanent northbound on and off ramps for the Aldinga intersection.
Stage two of the Main South Road duplication between Aldinga Beach Road and Sellicks Beach is part of the $810.4m Fleurieu Connections project between the state and federal governments.
The duplication includes intersection upgrades at Hart and Colville roads, Norman and Rogers roads, Hahn and Cox roads, and Sellicks Beach Road plus wider centre median strips.
It also includes three U-turns for local access and a pedestrian and cyclist path along the western side of Main South Road, from Aldinga to Sellicks Beach.
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Originally published as Aldinga Interchange on Main South Rd duplication taking shape as Majors Rd widening hits milestone
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