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[PRO] Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 11:43 am
by Pikey
South Australia's SA-BEST party has backed a proposal to build a road bridge from the mainland to Kangaroo Island.

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An ambitious plan to build 14-kilometre road bridge from Kangaroo Island to the South Australian mainland has been unveiled.

A consortium of local businesses are behind the $5 billion, four-lane proposal, which would include infrastructure to pump fresh water to the island and could include technology to harness wave energy in Backstairs Passage.

The idea has the backing of SA-BEST MP Frank Pangallo, who has hailed it as a nation-building project that would ensure Kangaroo Island reaches its full potential and becomes Australia's top tourist destination.

Universal Bridging Consortium member Jason Semanic, who has extensive experience with large-scale infrastructure projects, has come up with a proposed design.

He said the bridge would transform Kangaroo Island, allowing Adelaide residents to easily travel there for the day like they do to Victor Harbor and the Barossa Valley.

"To borrow a phrase 'build it and they will come' has never been truer with the project we are proposing," he said on Sunday.

The consortium said the bridge would also dramatically cut the cost of goods and services on the island and the travel costs for tourists.

Mr Pangallo said the idea should not be dismissed as "pie-in-the-sky" and called on the state government to fund a feasibility study.

"I am hoping Premier Steven Marshall and his government seriously view this project for the value it would bring and realise the enormous potential it would have for South Australia's economy," he said.

Mr Pangallo said there was potential for the bridge to become "one of the modern wonders of the world", and the state needed to do things to set it apart from the rest of the country."

"A mega-project of this magnitude will take significant time to prepare and approve, but SA needs to start thinking and acting big now," he said.

"This bridge itself would become an instant attraction and be one of the modern wonders of the world."

The consortium said the bridge could be funded by a public-private partnership (PPP), with some costs offset by charging a toll.

The preferred design, modelled on Greece's Rio-Antirron Bridge, would be built south of Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula and span to an area south-east of Penneshaw.

While about 205,000 people currently visit Kangaroo Island each year, Mr Pangallo said studies had shown that the Fleurieu Peninsula has much higher overnight visitation rates because of the ease of accessibility.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/sa-group-ba ... and-bridge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efVhSmuYLbU[/youtube]

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 12:00 pm
by Goodsy
when pigs fly

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 12:21 pm
by claybro
Or....with $5 billion we could build a grade separated duel carriage freeway from Whyalla to the Victorian border via northern Adelaide , and have money left over to upgrade regional freight and passenger rail.

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 4:43 pm
by SBD
Hmm - I looked at the video of the bridge. I don't think Lake Alexandrina or Lake Eyre are very often as still as the water in that! I doubt Backstairs Passage ever is that calm, and the picture doesn't show anywhere for the shipping channel to pass underneath. It's purely a thought bubble, not even a conceptual design.

This would be marginally longer than Canada's Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island, which has a higher section for the shipping channel (40m in general, 60m for the channel).

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 5:14 pm
by Goodsy
If the UK can't justify bridging the 2km gap to the Isle of Wight, then a KI bridge has no chance..


A bridge from Point Lowly to Port Germain would make more sense

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:28 pm
by Aidan
If the UK was more sensible with its infrastructure decisions, they'd've built a rail tunnel to the Isle of Wight years ago!

Unfortunately we're not that much better, and this bridge will be rejected whether it's worthwhile or not.

But the KI bridge is ridiculous in the form depicted. It's KI, not Tasmania! 4 lanes are not necessary, nor even desirable!

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:59 pm
by SBD
Aidan wrote:
Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:28 pm
If the UK was more sensible with its infrastructure decisions, they'd've built a rail tunnel to the Isle of Wight years ago!

Unfortunately we're not that much better, and this bridge will be rejected whether it's worthwhile or not.

But the KI bridge is ridiculous in the form depicted. It's KI, not Tasmania! 4 lanes are not necessary, nor even desirable!
I agree four lanes of traffic is not required, but I'm not an engineer. Does four lanes provide stability from a civil engineering perspective or stopping lanes from a traffic engineering perspective or scope for bike lanes, or something else I haven't thought of? Tacoma Narrows bridge didn't last long because it was long and thin. We wouldn't want to be the 21st century example!

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 10:23 pm
by Aidan
SBD wrote:Does four lanes provide stability from a civil engineering perspective
No.
or stopping lanes from a traffic engineering perspective
They could be used that way, though it would cost more than providing dedicated stopping lanes. But vehicles nowadays are reliable enough that they're not needed.
or scope for bike lanes,
Again, just providing bike lanes would be much cheaper.
or something else I haven't thought of? Tacoma Narrows bridge didn't last long because it was long and thin. We wouldn't want to be the 21st century example!
The problem with the original Tacoma Narrows bridge wasn't that it was long and thin, but that it wasn't stiff enough (and also various aerodynamic factors). Stiffness comes not from width but from the girderts/trusses that support the deck.

And of course that was a long span suspension bridge, whereas what's being proposed here is a multispan cable stayed bridge, which is inherently stiffer.

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 11:46 pm
by ozisnowman
Let’s not fuss over design and whether 4 or 2 lanes is required more importantly it about a feasibility study for a bridge. Once you factor in tourism, jobs, agriculture/aquaculture and land prices I reckon it is quite feasible. Would you plan on having a holiday home on KI most likely not but with a bridge and easy access that would likely change.

As a state we need to grow some balls make bold decisions to prosper rather than relying on federal handouts constantly. Yes to bridge, no to NIMBYS.

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 9:49 am
by Nort
It's good to have bold ideas out there and discussed, but I can't see a case for this bridge.

The main tourism appeal of Kangaroo Island is the degree to which it is untouched. The amount of increased tourism this bridge would bring (and that would be required to make it financially viable) would help destroy the reason people go there.

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:28 am
by [Shuz]
Why a bridge and not a tunnel?

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:35 am
by how good is he
Wouldn't a tunnel be far more expensive?

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 1:12 pm
by ml69
how good is he wrote:
Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:35 am
Wouldn't a tunnel be far more expensive?
A tunnel would surely be $10Bn+ ....

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 2:07 pm
by Nort
I propose a series of blimps supporting a zip line.

[PRO] Re: Kangaroo Island Bridge - $5b

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 4:16 pm
by Splashmo
We'd be better off duplicating the Victor Harbor Road and the Dukes Highway... and reducing the costs of the ferry.

It was also mentioned in the paper a bridge might threaten the island's biodiversity.