October/November 2022 News Update

With the major construction works of Main South Road Duplication - Stage 1 Seaford to Aldinga now well underway,  our focus over the last couple of months has been on all matters relating to transport, roads and in particular safe paths, trails for cyclists and pedestrians across the Basin.

Now that the roundabout at the intersection of Main South Rd and Port Rd has been removed it is becoming clear that the proposed grade separation is a heavy infrastructure entailing significant civil works to create the underpass, a bridge to allow access across the underpass and traffic signals to control what will become a somewhat complicated at-grade traffic flow, a similar scale to the Gallipoli Underpass on South Rd at the Anzac Highway intersection. Is this what we want or need at Aldinga, on the boundary of the metropolitan area, adjacent to the historic Old Aldinga township and on the boundary of the McLaren Vale Character Preservation District?

We are concerned that the 2 duplicated road corridors south of Old Noarlunga (Main South Rd to Sellicks and Victor Harbor Rd to near Willunga) will feature physical barriers down their centrelines, thereby precluding east-west crossing by pedestrians and cyclists at anything other than a few designated points. FOWB has been promoting a logical and reasonable long-term solution for safe crossings is to provide grade separation at points coinciding with the 3 principal creek systems of the Basin at Pedlar, Maslin and Willunga Creeks.

Although FOWB and other community groups have been lobbying for a pedestrian and cyclist underpass beneath Main South Rd at Aldinga (adjacent to Little Rd), since 2015, construction of this section of the duplication has commenced and there is no plan to build such an underpass. Do we want pedestrians and cyclists to be directed into what we see as a hostile and unsafe environment across 6 lanes of the new Main South Rd and then along a narrow pathway outside what is reputedly the busiest OTR service station in the state in a narrow and congested section of Port Rd at Aldinga?

We welcome the funding and construction of the Aldinga - Willunga Shared Path and will continue to provide feedback to Council on the safety and appropriateness of the path, the alignment and the barriers for a wide range of local and visiting users. If you still have concerns about any of the trails in the Onkaparinga Council area you will be able to provide feedback when Council reviews the Trails and Cycling Strategic Management Plan (TCSMP) in the near future.