SA Government releases updated O-Bahn tunnel plan
The South Australian Government last week released its revised plans for the O-Bahn City Access Project, which it said takes into account the extensive consultation with the community and stakeholders such as the Adelaide City Council.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan said the consultation had shown people understood the need to address the primary objectives of the project, which he said include:
- Reducing delays and improving reliability for O-Bahn passengers;
- Removing more than 1000 O-Bahn buses from the Hackney Road/Dequetteville Terrace intersection;
- Reducing congestion for vehicles on the City Ring Route; and
- Significantly improving travel times for more than 30,000 O-Bahn passengers and more than 70,000 vehicles which currently navigate the Hackney Road/Botanic Road intersection every day.
However the government has revised some aspects of the project to change the impact on the parklands and provide better car parking for the East End.
According to the government, changes to the plan include:
- Retaining the existing alignment of Rundle Road;
- Reducing the impact on Rymill Park;
- Extending the tunnel portal 140 metres west, closer to Grenfell Street;
- Reducing the length at which buses travel at street level to 40 metres;
- Removing the barrier between the bus tunnels to reduce the tunnel footprint; and
- Creating an extra 50 car parks on East Terrace and Rundle Road.
“The government has always said it would listen to the community throughout the life of this project and that is exactly what we have done,” Mr Mullighan said.
“We have worked hard to address all of the issues raised during the consultation and while it may not be possible to satisfy everyone, we believe we have struck a balance between all of those interests.
“Under the revised plan the tunnel has been lengthened from about 510 metres to 650 metres, shifting the tunnel portal closer to Grenfell Street and reducing the visual impact.
“Importantly though the primary objectives of the project – to improve the reliability and travel time for O-Bahn passengers and to reduce congestion on the Inner Ring Route – have not changed.”
Source: News Release, Urbanalyst, 15 June, 2015