Transport in Adelaide

The city of Adelaide, South Australia is served by a wide variety of transport, being centrally located on the Australian mainland and forms a hub for east-west and north-south routes. The road network includes the Southern Expressway, a reversible one way freeway. The city also has a public transport system managed by Adelaide Metro, consisting of a contracted bus system including the O-Bahn Busway (a guided busway), metropolitan railways, and the historic Adelaide to Glenelg Tram.

Roads

Road transport in Adelaide has historically been comparatively easier than many of the other Australian cities, with a well-defined city layout and wide multiple-lane roads from the beginning of its development. Historically, Adelaide was known as a "twenty-minute city", with commuters having being able to travel from metropolitan outskirts to the city proper in roughly twenty minutes. However, these roads are now inadequate to cope with Adelaide's growing road traffic. ref|20mincity

In 1964 the 'M.A.T.S.' plan for Adelaide (Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study) was commissioned by the S.A. Government, which examined establishing a large network of highways along Adelaide's main urban transport corridors. The plan went as far as the State Government of the day purchasing land along Adelaide's major roads, in preparation for highway construction. However, later State Governments abandoned the plan for highways across Adelaide during the 1970s. The consequences of the political rejection of this plan are now being realised as increased traffic has seen travel times increase, and congestion on main thoroughfares such as South Road has become a daily reality.ref|raabackwater Adelaide is connected to Port Wakefield Road and the Sturt Highway in the north, and the South Eastern Freeway in the South East. ref|sefreeway The Southern Expressway acts as a bypass for congested South Road in the southern suburbs of Adelaide. The expressway is unique for changing direction according to peak flow. ref|sexpressway

Bus

.

The O-Bahn Busway is one of a few guided busways in the world. With large growth in the Northern Suburbs of Adelaide in the 1970s and 1980s Adelaide was faced with a transport dilemma. The Adelaide O-Bahn was constructed in 1986 in response, after beating competing proposals of expanded rail and road networks (one of the competing proposals was to build an Adelaide underground, but proved to be cost-ineffective in comparison).ref|obahn Interstate bus routes to and from all the major Australian towns and cities connect to Adelaide. Its main terminus for intra and interstate coach-liners is the Franklin Street Coach Terminal at Franklin and Bowen Streets in the city-centre. Beginning in 2005, the terminal is to undergo a complete $25 million reconstruction, in conjunction with the much larger $375 million former Balfours site redevelopment – the end-product being a new multistorey bus station and various residential and commercial towers.ref|busterm

The Adelaide Metro buses are owned and operated by:
*Torrens Transit - north-eastern, inner north, inner south, eastern, western and north-western suburban bus network.
*Australian Transit Enterprises, trading as SouthLink – the far south and far north
*Transitplus - regional bus services and the Adelaide Hills

Rail

While Adelaide's rail-network does not suffer the chronic delays of its inter-state counterparts, it is comparatively under-developed; Adelaide is the last mainland capital with a non-electric network, with a 10-year $2 billion transport program commencing in 2008-09 to rebuild the network. [cite web
url=http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23815160-5006301,00.html
title=AdelaideNow... State Budget 08 - Foley unveils $10bn infrastructure masterplan
publisher=www.news.com.au
accessdate=2008-06-05] Adelaide is also the midpoint of the long distance Indian Pacific service between Perth and Sydney, as well as the terminus of The Overland to Melbourne and The Ghan to Alice Springs and Darwin.

In late 2005 the State Government released a State Infrastructure Plan ref|transplan, which saw the upgrade of the Adelaide’s sole remaining tramway, from Victoria Square in the CBD to the historic beachside resort of Glenelg, commenced an AU$56 million upgrade in which new trams now operate with the existing historic H-type’s of 1929. ref|newtrams

Air

The Adelaide International Airport, located at West Beach, is Australia's newest and most advanced airport terminal and is designed to serve in excess of 5.4 million passengers annually. The new dual international/domestic terminal replaced the old and ageing terminals known locally as the 'tin sheds', and incorporates new state-of-the-art features, such as glass aerobridges and the ability to cater for the new Airbus A380. The airport is designed to handle 27 aircraft simultaneously and it is capable of processing 3,000 passengers per hour. It was officially opened in a ceremony in October 2005 by South Australian Governor Marjorie Jackson-Nelson, Premier of South Australia Mike Rann and Prime Minister of Australia John Howard. ref|aal Due to problems with the new refuelling system, the new airport terminal was not used for interstate domestic flights until 17 February 2006. ref|aaldelay

Parafield Airport is Adelaide's second airport, mostly used for general aviation. It is located eighteen kilometres north of the CBD.

Notes and References

# "Metro Malcontent - The Twenty Minute City No More, courtesy RAA" [http://www.raa.net/download.asp?file=documentsdocument_677.pdf] "(.pdf)"
# "RAA's Vision: Backwater to Benchmark, courtesy RAA" [http://www.raa.net/page.asp?TerID=615]
# "Princes Highway SA (South-Eastern Freeway), courtesy Ozroads" [http://www.ozroads.com.au/SA/New/1/PrincesM/princesM.htm]
# "Southern Expressway, courtesy M Greenslade" [http://www.hotkey.net.au/~krool/photos/sa/sthexpress.html]
# "Adelaide Metro: The Adelaide O-Bahn, courtesy Adelaide Metro" [http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/guides/obahn.html]
# "Adelaide's new Bus Terminal, courtesy Capital City Committee" [http://www.capcity.adelaide.sa.gov.au/html/program.html]
# "South Australia Transport Plan, courtesy South Australian Department of Transport" [http://www.dtup.sa.gov.au/transport_plan/index.html]
# "Adelaide Metro: New Trams, courtesy Adelaide Metro" [http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/guides/new_tram.html]
# "Adelaide Airport, courtesy Adelaide Airport Limited" [http://www.aal.com.au/]
# "Passengers urged to be patient as new SA terminal opens, courtesy ABC News" [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1572055.htm]

ee also

*Transport in Australia

References