News & Discussion: Other Transport Projects

[Norman]

There are Bluetooth receivers at most traffic lights now. These can detect how long it took people with Bluetooth devices took to get from one location to the other.

You can also check this live traffic information at http://traffic.sa.gov.au

[PeFe]

From In Daily

SA roads will be "hard-wired" for driverless cars

Several of South Australia’s most significant road projects are being hard-wired to “talk" to driverless cars in the future.


Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan (rear) with ARRB Group general manager Gerard Waldron at today's conference.
Speaking with reporters at the driverless cars conference in Adelaide this morning, Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan said the Torrens-to-Torrens, Darlington and Northern Connector roads projects would be made to integrate with autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles.

“The Torrens-to-Torrens project, the Darlington project, the Northern Connector: we’re hard-wiring those as sections of road to be able to bolt on the technology at the point in time that we’re ready to deploy it,” said Mullighan.

“This is something that we’re going to be rolling out across our transport network in the future.

“Just in the last 12 months, we’ve been rolling out Bluetooth receivers across all of our traffic signal boxes in greater metropolitan Adelaide.

“We’ve got what we think is the most advanced traffic monitoring ability of any state in Australia.”

Premier Jay Weatherill told conference delegates that driverless cars had the potential to dramatically reduce the road toll in SA.

“Road crashes are a leading cause of death amongst all age groups and the number one cause of death among those aged 15 to 29,” said Weatherill.

“We have an average of 100 fatalities and 700 serious injuries on our roads on each year.

“The personal carnage … the tragedies that each of these incidents represent could be massively reduced with these technologies.

“Advancing towards driverless vehicles … will allow us to significantly reduce this toll.”

He said many crashes were the result of simple human error – which autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles could reduce or eliminate – rather than extreme risk-taking.

“People make simple mistakes and massive tragedies flow from them,” he said.

Weatherill said SA could develop a new manufacturing sector out of the ashes of the state’s automotive industry, in the form of components for driverless cars.

However, he conceded, this industry would not approach the scale of the car manufacturing industry that has acted as a major employer in the state.

“There’s no doubt it will be a different sort of manufacturing,” said Weatherill.

“It won’t be large-run, high volume, low value manufacturing. It will be small, niche operations to give us the opportunity to use our skills and talents.

“You may well see SA involved in perhaps not the assembly of the whole of the vehicle, but crucial elements of the vehicle might be capable of being manufactured here.

“That’s the way of modern manufacturing: small runs, highly sophisticated products, where relatively high-cost jurisdictions – but also high-skill, high-capability jurisdictions like SA – get back into the business of manufacturing.”

However, Opposition Transport spokesperson Corey Wingard told InDaily the Government needed to demonstrate “where the jobs are coming from”.

“I think everyone’s looking forward to seeing the display over the weekend but it has been pointed out that we are seeing a foreign-made car come here and road-test,” he said.

“If we’re bringing this infrastructure in, to enable us to use European cars – overseas cars – to drive on our roads, where is the ability to generate jobs for South Australians?

“We’ve got a jobs crisis in South Australia … so what we need to see the fast-tracking of jobs. We need jobs now.

“Innovation is imperative here, we need to be working with any advancements in innovation within our state, but we need to be doing it with a view to creating jobs.”

Weatherill said the government had received some “very exciting propositions” from companies involved in developing and manufacturing driverless cars, and SA was well-placed to take advantage of a growing industry, with “good access to decision makers”.

“It’s amazing the response that we’ve had in just eight months,” he said.

“We have an impressive track record as an incubator for a test-bed of ideas…we’re big enough to have a critical mass of skills and infrastructure and capability; yet, at the same time, we’re small enough for companies to get things done quickly – to get good access to decision makers, to come to a low-cost, low-tax, pro-growth business environment, and people who have a bias for ‘yes’ for this industry.

“If you represent a company or a research organisation, if you’re an entrepreneur – if you’re interested in this driverless car industry, we’re interested in talking to you.

“We are one of the world’s most liveable cities – we want to add to that being one of the world’s smartest cities.”

Deeper ethical and social questions posed by autonomous vehicles would have to be answered as the technology develops, and were part of the purpose of the conference, said Weatherill.

But he said the technology constituted an “enormous social good”.

“It’s going to improve the productivity of our roads, it will improve safety on our roads, but more importantly it gets us in with the technologies that create the jobs here.”

http://www.indaily.com.au/news/2015/11/ ... less-cars/

What a really "smart" idea! Launching Adelaide onto the world automobile stage as "the driveless car testing city" is a great play
to generate employment in the wake of Holdens imminent closure.
If I were part of the SA government I would be encouraging driverless car companies to set up test facilities in the northern suburbs (Elizabeth/Salisbury) and If I were involved in local councils in that area (Playford) I would be actively supporting this to happen.
Yes we are a long way away from the driverless car headquarters, but in a "global" word this doesn't matter...what matters is being seen as a "driverless car friendly city" where companies can come and test their products in the real world without fear that minor hiccups/problems would result in 'testing conditions" being curtailed.
To take things a further step why not try and set up Adelaide as a "test city" for all the future solar products. I am thinking of the battery storage especially (this is about to "explode" into public consciousness in the near future with the price of storage going down putting it in range of the average electricity consumer that has solar panels on their roofs)
Also I presume a the majority of future driverless cars will be electric....so how do you integrate their use into society overall..
Electric charging stations, rooftop solar on garages designed to charge electric cars overnight, all these things have to be tested somewhere in the real world so why not in Adelaide.
Adelaide must lead the world in the installation of rooftop solar (I have seen figure quoting 24% of all homes, just ahead of Perth and Brisbane,surely the highest of metro areas over one million in the world) This should be used to our commercial advantage.

[fabricator]

Unfortunately SA only has one Rapid Car charger for electric cars, these are high current DC supplies with a special plug, they require 3 phase power. It's the Mitsubishi office carpark. Telsa are building their own network of these chargers, but its only between Melbourne and Sydney so far.

SA also has the only remaining Solar panel factory in Australia, it's in Mawson Lakes.

[EBG]

There is an electric car recharging station in the Burnside village basement car park and there was a Nissan Leaf recharging there today (12 Nov 2015) while its owner was shopping. There are at least 2 Telsa 8 models owners who live in the south/eastern suburbs.

[ChillyPhilly]

There is an electric car recharging station in the Burnside village basement car park and there was a Nissan Leaf recharging there today (12 Nov 2015) while its owner was shopping. There are at least 2 Telsa 8 models owners who live in the south/eastern suburbs.

When popping into Parafield Airport for a uni excursion in 2011, I reckon there was a Tesla parked near one of the office buildings.

[ml69]

There is an electric car recharging station in the Burnside village basement car park and there was a Nissan Leaf recharging there today (12 Nov 2015) while its owner was shopping. There are at least 2 Telsa 8 models owners who live in the south/eastern suburbs.

I have an Outlander PHEV electric vehicle, the public charging infrastructure in Australia is very limited compared to many other developed countries. Easiest thing to do is charge at home overnight (assuming you can park close enough to a PowerPoint).

[Westside]

It's all a waste of time/effort while Australia's electricity production is reliant on burning coal.

[Rene]

There is an electric car recharging station in the Burnside village basement car park and there was a Nissan Leaf recharging there today (12 Nov 2015) while its owner was shopping. There are at least 2 Telsa 8 models owners who live in the south/eastern suburbs.

There are 2 Tesla branded chargers and 2 generic chargers.

[Llessur2002]

Not quite sure where this sits but looks interesting:

Leading Transport Towards a City for the Future

Please join us for a conversation in the Leadership Lab in collaboration with the Adelaide Round Table on Tuesday, 5 April 2016 from 5pm to 6.30pm, featuring speakers Rod Hook, Jason Makarenko and Stephen Yarwood. The topic to be discussed is cars, bicycles and public transport - how Adelaide will move around in 2050?

This conversation will be held in an environment which enables frank and robust discussions. The aim is to foster productive policy discussions by inviting former state and federal MPs, senior bureaucrats and academics to speak freely and independently of their party affiliation, providing a forum in which those such as former public servants can speak in a way not constrained by current government policy positions.

In order to foster an open discussion the event will be held under the Chatham House rule:

participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.

This is an opportunity for you to have your say and learn from the insights of some of Adelaide's most influential decision makers and leaders. We look forward to you joining us at what will surely be a highly engaging event.

When: Tuesday, April 5, 2016 from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM (ACST)
Where: The Leadership Lab, Executive Education Unit - The University of Adelaide Level 7, 10 Pulteney Street, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/leading-tr ... 3073100264

[Nathan]

This looks like a significant downgrade from what was originally envisioned.

It is now an open trench, instead of being properly underground. Which means Bonython Park will remain divided, and instead of having an underground station within the Bowden development surrounded by retail/hospitality, we get a big dividing trench surrounded by fences and some caged walkovers, which it absolutely not in keeping with the vision for Bowden.

$238m parklands rail fix raises tram questions
http://indaily.com.au/news/2016/05/06/2 ... questions/

The State Government will call for expressions of interest to build a $238 million lowered rail line and underpass in the north parklands to separate the Outer Harbor line from the freight route. And it could set the scene for a tram line to Adelaide Oval.

David Washington
@davidwashingto2
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A Government-supplied image of the lowered rail line, running alongside War Memorial drive.
The Torrens Junction project, first approved under federal Labor, had its funding confirmed in the federal Budget this week. It will include a lowered commuter train line through the parklands and an underpass for Park Tce – eliminating the level crossing.

It will fix a pinch point, just north of Bonython Park, where the freight line and the Outer Harbor commuter line meet, commonly causing delays for freight trains and Park Tce traffic, as well as limiting the length of freight trains on the line.

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However, the project raises questions about the future of the long-promised Port Adelaide tram line which would replace heavy rail to Outer Harbor.

Under the Government’s integrated transport plan, the proposed tram line wouldn’t use the rail line through the parklands, instead directing trams along the current route to the Entertainment Centre before switching to the rail corridor at Bowden.

However, InDaily understands the Torrens Junction project will be designed with diesel and electric trains, as well as light rail, in mind, allowing the future option of running trams through the parklands along the current rail corridor, and then via a new section of track along War Memorial Drive, past the Adelaide Oval, and then up King William Street.

In a possible clue, the Government released illustrations of trams using the revamped section of line through the parklands.

State Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan and Federal Minister for Major Projects Paul Fletcher confirmed the funding for the Torrens Junction project this morning.

Fletcher said the project would improve the productivity of the national rail freight network by enabling 1800-metre freight trains – about 20 per cent longer than the current configuration – to operate between Adelaide and Melbourne.

“It is also vital to reduce traffic delays experienced on one of the busiest sections of the inner ring route road network,” he said.

“Almost 50,000 vehicles use Park Terrace every day and are often delayed by the 160 passenger train movements through this level crossing each day.”

The lowered line will extend to Bowden station, although the exact details about the total length of the project will be determined in the design stage.

Mullighan said the project, along with stage two of upgrades at Goodwood to create a new pedestrian and cycling overpass, would support about 212 jobs a year during construction.

The State Government's map of the five proposed tram route extensions that make up AdeLINK.
The State Government’s map of proposed tram route extensions, including to Outer Harbor via the Port.

DPTI-TorrensJunction-cam04-electricTrains_v013
A Government image of the revamped Bowden station.

The Torrens Junction project, first approved under Labor infrastructure minister Anthony Albanese, has long raised questions about the Port tram concept – identified in the State Government’s transport plan as a medium term prospect, to be built in the next five to 15 years. The concept includes lines to Semaphore, West Lakes and Grange.

The key point has been that under the current concept for the PortLink tram network, the pinch point at Torrens Junction would be eliminated because the trams wouldn’t use the rail corridor. So why spend more than $200 million on a problem largely solved by the trams? The argument is that it would be better to spend the money on getting started on the tram link.

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However, a senior Government source has told InDaily that Torrens Junction could open up new possibilities for the tram line, not envisaged in the transport plan.

If the Government opts for trams on the line – and that’s not certain – transport planners have started considering how the current corridor along War Memorial Drive to the Adelaide Railway Station could be adjusted, with a tramline extended onto the road past Adelaide Oval and on to King William St.

The current route to the Entertainment Centre could be maintained, and joined up to the tram corridor at Bowden.

The question remains, though, whether trams will be ultimately supported on the line.

InDaily understands the Government has received two consultants’ reports on the concept – one of which supports light rail to Outer Harbor, and other of which opposes it, on the grounds that trams carry fewer passengers and would increase travel times to the far reaches of the line, compared to trains.

[Llessur2002]

Woo hoo - brilliant news.

Plus, if there has to be trams on the line, I much prefer the idea of maintaining the dedicated corridor through the parklands instead of joining the existing line at the Entertainment Centre (although from the article it would appear that having both would be an option, which would be the best of both worlds).

Really excited to see what comes of this...

[Nathan]

Woo hoo - brilliant news.

Plus, if there has to be trams on the line, I much prefer the idea of maintaining the dedicated corridor through the parklands instead of joining the existing line at the Entertainment Centre (although from the article it would appear that having both would be an option, which would be the best of both worlds).

Really excited to see what comes of this...

Honestly, I've long been supportive of keeping the rail line over the tram option, but this is fucking terrible. It solves the issues of the freight crossing the the Park Tce level crossing, but not only doesn't address any of the other issues the project was originally going to address — it actively makes them worse. It needs to be properly underground like was originally planned.

[SouthAussie94]

Is it possible thay the land rights above the rail corridor through Bowden could be sold? This could allow the sunken station to become "underground" in the same manner as Adelaide Station.

To me, it would make sense to have the underpass covered from where it goes under the Gawler line to just north of Park Terrace. That would then allow construction above the line through Bowden without the added cost to the Government

[Llessur2002]

Honestly, I've long been supportive of keeping the rail line over the tram option, but this is fucking terrible. It solves the issues of the freight crossing the the Park Tce level crossing, but not only doesn't address any of the other issues the project was originally going to address — it actively makes them worse. It needs to be properly underground like was originally planned.

Oh hang on - I was too interested in the maintenance of the existing corridor that it didn't twig that Bowden station wasn't depicted as underground like the original plans. That's not a great outcome for the station - I really liked the idea of it being covered to open up the area and better connect the Bowden developments to Port Road and as a regular user of the greenway this was essential to cut out that awful Chief Street detour. Hopefully that's a design issue (i.e. putting a lid on the excavation) that can be addressed further down the line (no pun intended).

What are the other issues?

[Dvious]

Can't wait for the APPA NIMBY's to lose their mind at the thought of losing even more Parklands!