By Lauren Reid
Published: Friday, February 23, 2018
You’ll have to leave home up to half an hour earlier to tackle the Adelaide 500 traffic congestion. That’s the advice of RAA’s road safety team, ahead of the annual car race.
This year’s event will be held from 1–4 March, but some lane restrictions and closures around the track, in the area of Dequetteville Tce, Bartels Rd and Wakefield Rd, are already in place and will continue until 9 March.
Main congestion points on the eastern side of the city, (where east-west roads intersect with Portrush Rd), are expected to slow further during the closures, as traffic banks up into the eastern suburbs.
Previous travel time surveys conducted by RAA during the Adelaide 500 have shown Payneham Rd – the most affected route – can take up to 30 minutes extra to travel during the morning peak period.
The average speed on Payneham Rd, between Montague Rd and Hackney Rd drops as low at 9km/h during the morning peak period, particularly from 8.30–9am.
On Greenhill Rd, it can take 15 minutes longer to travel during the morning peak period, with the section between Devereux Rd and Unley Rd falling to a 13km/h average travelling speed – compared to 25km/h without the road restrictions. Magill Rd and The Parade also regularly see significant delays.
There’s some good news this year though – roadworks on main eastern feeder roads will be paused to improve traffic flow.
Two mobile traffic cameras will also be used to feed images back to the Traffic Management Centre, where staff will monitor congestion and make tweaks to the signalling times of traffic lights in the area.
With the completion of the O-Bahn upgrade project, RAA is keen to see the impact the tunnel makes on the intersection of Hackney Rd and North Tce.
We hope to see congestion reduced and smoother transits for all road-users in this area thanks to the O-Bahn tunnel and extra traffic monitoring.
For now, RAA recommends commuters allow up to 30 minutes extra to travel during the week of the Adelaide 500 or, if possible, change their route or time of travel.
Buses will be given high priority, so consider catching public transport if you can.
The full list of restrictions and closures can be found here, but motorists are also encouraged to use the free AddInsight traffic app to check delays in real time.