DPTI Matters - 8 February 2019

A word from the Chief Executive

If you have any comments, suggestions, questions or concerns, please email them to telltony@sa.gov.au.

Alliance nomination

The PTP Alliance has been shortlisted for the 2019 Australian Construction Award – Women in Construction Award Category, which celebrates the outstanding contribution by any company, individual or project that is paving the way for women in the construction industry.

The alliance has demonstrated and embraced its Diversity and Inclusion Policy with above-average industry participation for female professionals. This is the kind of genuine results that good policies should always deliver.

The PTP Alliance brings McConnell Dowell, Arup and Mott Macdonald together with the DPTI to deliver the design and construction of public transport projects, including the Oaklands Crossing Grade Separation Project.

Some of the PTP Alliance team.

Opening on track

The Oaklands project is well on track to open for train services in April, with a raft of work planned for the coming weeks.

This will include night works to achieve important goals that will provide tremendous community benefits, including shorter travel times and relieving the longstanding traffic congestion issues on Morphett and Diagonal roads.

The night works will help minimise daytime traffic disruption as the final stages of this project are completed.

An aerial view of night works at the Oaklands Crossing Grade Separation.

Planning policies

The State Government last week released South Australia’s inaugural State Planning Policies, which set out a whole-of-government vision for land use in South Australia.

These policies are the highest-order policy instrument in South Australia’s new planning and development system and give voice to the planning priorities that matter most to South Australia across housing, cultural heritage, primary industry, the environment, transport, and hazard mitigation.

The State Planning Policies have now taken effect and will be used to develop other planning instruments that will support the new planning system, which will commence operating in outback areas from mid-2019.

More information is available on the SA Planning Portal.

Citizen of the Year

It was great to see one of the volunteers from the Kilkenny Rail Care group awarded the City of Charles Sturt Citizen of the Year last week.

Gino Chinca and his wife Jean have worked for close to 30 years to maintain and improve the Kilkenny railway station gardens, with Gino being immortalised in a huge portrait mural at Kilkenny station painted by Lee Harnden and MJ Gower. The Kilkenny railway station also won an award in the City of Charles Sturt Garden Competition last year.

Rail Care works with committed volunteers to help enhance the look and feel of train and tram stations and rail corridors for neighbours and travellers.

Thank you, Gino, Jean and all the other volunteers for your time and dedication.

Community consultation

DPTI’s Port Wakefield Project team met the local community at an information session in Port Wakefield last night.

This is an important part of any project and creates an opportunity for DPTI and its partners to listen to the community and to explain how the project will unfold in the months ahead.

The $90 million project is funded by the SA and Australian governments and will deliver a much-needed overpass at the intersection of Augusta Highway and the Copper Coast Highway, as well as providing capacity improvements for the Port Wakefield Road running through Port Wakefield.

Northern Connector

Another key milestone for the Northern Connector Project is nearing completion, with the new bridge over the Port River Expressway, which will connect the South Road Superway and the new Northern Connector, targeted for opening in the coming months.

Once the new bridge is open, the existing bridge over the Port River Expressway will be demolished.

You can see some of the great work being done on this project in the video below.

Friday Flashback

Today’s Friday Flashback shows the first locomotive in South Australia built at Gawler, in 1890. The engine is decorated with palm wreaths and ribbons with important dignitaries aboard, while passengers hang onto the side of the train carriages.

SLSA B 9778

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