IF you’ve ever found yourself stuck in traffic heading east or west across the city and thought the lights are working against you — you could be right.
A new report into traffic signalling in the city has revealed that motorists travelling north-south are prioritised over those travelling east-west.
The document, prepared by Adelaide City Council administration has been described by the Lord Mayor as “good, but doesn’t say anything” while Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan said there was substantial room for improvement
“When the report says they’re generally co-ordinated for north-south traffic movements — well if that’s true that ignores the huge volume of traffic that comes in from the western suburbs from Henley Beach Rd, Sir Donald Bradman Drive, Port Rd and the eastern suburbs like Wakefield Rd into Wakefield St and Bartels Rd coming into Pirie St,” Mr Mullighan said.
“So there is quite a lot we can do.”
Mr Mullighan also took aim the Adelaide City Council’s Smart Move strategy mentioned in the report, which is currently under review. The strategy prioritises pedestrian movement over cars in the city including crossing times at intersections.
He said the idea shouldn’t be applied across the city, particularly at intersections with significantly less foot traffic to those such as King William St.
“That’s obviously important to encourage people to walk around the city rather than rely on cars but that may not be the appropriate prioritisation of traffic at every intersection,” he said.
“I think because of this we’ve missed a lot of opportunities to improve how traffic flows through the city.”
Lord Mayor Martin Haese said he expected more from the administration’s report saying “it doesn’t say much”.
“Given that council administration and DPTI meet every three weeks for traffic signal improvements — I expected more from this report,” he said.
“I don’t think we’re at the bottom of this and we need to do more.”
Both Mr Mullighan and Mr Haese said that they would work together to improve signalling across the CBD and continue programs such as Operation Moving Traffic, one of the positives to come out of the report.
It revealed changes implemented earlier this year that removed pedestrian demands on Hutt St (meaning lights failed to interrupt signalling when the button is pushed) saved up to 30 per cent on travel times across the city strip.
“We’re talking a 20 or 30 per cent reduction in travel time along that one stretch of road,” Mr Mullighan said.
“That’s the sort of thing we could achieve more broadly across the city.”
The Lord Mayor agreed at looking at a citywide implementation.
“We will absolutely look at this,” Mr Haese said.
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