Secret reports prepared under the former Marshall Liberal government reveal plans to carve out major intersection widening where Cross Road meets Goodwood and Unley Roads, buying up dozens of homes and businesses in a bid to create a major freight corridor.
The documents reveal plans (see excerpts here) that would see the full or partial acquisition of up to 129 homes and 59 businesses, including an aged care facility, around both intersections.
The revelation of the plans – which the Malinauskas Labor Government rules out progressing – comes as Liberal Boothby candidate Nicolle Flint consistently peddles the falsehood that Labor has a "plan to send trucks down Cross Road", falsely claiming that "once the North-South Corridor is complete, heavy trucks will use Cross Road to get from the Freeway to South Road – making Cross Road the new Portrush Road".
Bizarrely, Ms Flint claims that "the Labor Party has long planned on sending more heavy trucks from the South Eastern Freeway on to Cross Road".
In fact, it was the Liberal Party that undertook secret planning while in government to turn Cross Road into a freight route.
That's why the Marshall government carved out additional lanes at the intersection of Cross and Fullarton Roads – attempting to raze the Waite Gatehouse in the process, until a concerted community, media and Labor Opposition-led campaign forced a backflip.
And that's why they drafted secret plans to do the same at the intersection of Unley, Belair and Cross Roads as well as Goodwood and Cross Road, forcibly acquiring potentially almost 190 homes and established businesses in the process.
And these plans would have been co-funded and conducted in consultation with the former Coalition Government – of which Ms Flint was a member.
The truth is, the Liberals were determined to turn Cross Road and Portrush Road into major freight routes – that's why they funded the widening of intersections such as not only Cross and Fullarton Roads but Portrush and Magill Roads, projects they sold as "congestion busting" initiatives, but for which their Request for Tender as part of their planning process stipulated a focus on "improved freight efficiency".
And it was Nicolle Flint that joined then-Premier Steven Marshall to announce what was to be the first tranche of the Liberals' Cross Road Freight Corridor, declaring in 2019: "We are busting congestion for over 60,000 motorists every single day."
As put by Tom Koutsantonis
It is time for the Liberals to explain their plans for Cross Road: why did they draft plans to do to the Goodwood and Unley Road intersections what they did to Fullarton Road?
Were they ever going to tell local residents and businesses that they planned to create a freight bypass along Cross Road?
Incredibly, candidate Nicolle Flint is now claiming this is a Labor initiative – but the proof to the contrary is now there for all to see.
While they were outlining their flawed and undercosted reference design for the North South Corridor, the Liberals were busy designing massive widening plans for the major intersections between the South East Freeway and South Road.
Their plans for Unley and Goodwood Roads are consistent with what they did at the Fullarton Road intersection of Cross Road – and these blueprints show the significant impact these plans would pose for the communities around these intersections.
The Malinauskas Labor Government absolutely rules out progressing these Liberal plans to carve out additional lanes and wider intersections along Cross Road to create a dedicated freight route.
While the Marshall government abandoned its signature Globelink policy and delivered an undercosted and underscoped Truro Bypass plan, we are continuing with detailed planning on a Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass.
