House debates

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Statements by Members

Boothby Electorate: Traffic Congestion

1:53 pm

Photo of Andrew SouthcottAndrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare) Share this | | Hansard source

In my local surveys, one of the issues which come up time and time again is traffic congestion. Infrastructure in South Australia just has not kept pace with the increase in traffic and the increase in population. One of the greatest bugbears for my residents is the Oaklands Crossing at Diagonal Road and Morphett Road. There residents face long waits while trains pass. With the expansion of Marion shopping centre and also the new state aquatic centre, this is only expected to get worse. Therefore, it was welcomed that the state government announced that they would be looking at a feasibility study for this site. Just this week they have released a detailed concept design for elevated rail over the intersection. It is estimated to cost more than $100 million and involves an elevated station. However, there is no time frame. Without any money involved, it is just another empty, hollow promise, as was fixing Sturt Road and South Road in 2006, as was running trains to Flinders Medical Centre in 2008. What I say to the South Australian government is: where is the money?