Letters, October 19, 2022

Empty promises

ONLY last week a child was almost run over by a car in the Main Street of Hahndorf.

He had run onto the road to better view an accident where a car had side swiped a parked car near the Old Mill Restaurant.

Early in September another vehicle parked in front of Gepetto’s suffered significant damage as a car and truck were passing in the Main Street.

Yes! It happens all the time.

For thirty years the Hahndorf Community Association and the Traders have been lobbying the council and the State Government for a bypass option so that heavy trucks en route from the Barossa region to the Fleurieu Peninsula don’t have to traverse the narrow Main Street of the Hahndorf Heritage Zone, considered one of Australia’s premier tourist destinations.

Finally, in 2020 the Federal Government gave a commitment of $200m for the construction of a bypass solution, topped up by a State promise of an additional $50m.

How empty were these promises?

Several times over the past two years delegations of prominent Hahndorfians have approached Government ministers and senior staff of the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) and on every occasion been assured that the funding was secure and that work would be commenced by 2023.

Three options were provided by DIT, all using the freeway underpass on River Road, an obvious and workable solution. The public were invited to give their input.

As usual, there were a few knockers of the options, feeling their interests were greater than the public advantage.

While in Adelaide suburbia such objections would be summarily dismissed, not so in Hahndorf.

The town has received another slap in the face from the Government. Some money may go towards beautifying the Main Street, they now say.

The Mt Barker Council had several consultations with those living and working in Hahndorf.

The concerns of the people were:

To remove heavy transport from the Main Street as well as local traffic from the neighboring towns on the south side of the freeway – Echunga, Meadows et cetera;

To provide parking adjacent to the Main Street;

And regular maintenance of the infrastructure eg. footpaths already there.

The council, in its wisdom consequently employed a consultant who came up with a Rundle Mall look alike – exactly what Hahndorf doesn’t need.

It is a historic precinct, and popular because of that aspect.

Going into the future our pressing need is a bypass for the oversize, heavy through traffic, not a ‘tissied up’ easy look fix.

Harold Gallasch, Hahndorf

Warning ignored

“COAL and other fossil fuels are choking  humanity” the United Nations has warned the world.

And yet Australia continues to be a world leader in relation to exporting fossil fuels, coal and to a lesser extent, natural gas.

It makes no sense at all.

Brian Measday, Myrtle Bank

Pothole concerns

THE number of potholes and damaged roads emerging across the Hills is of much concern, with flat car tyres and dangerous conditions for motorists, cyclists and motorbike riders.

Councils seem to be copping much of the blame. Often, however, it is not the council roads that are the problem but the State Government roads – the main roads that connect towns.

In fact I would go so far as to say that if it’s a rough road then it is almost certainly a State road. Hence my suggestion is that people contact their State MP, ie. Cregan, Teague, Hurn or Pederick, not their council.

In the case of a pothole that gave my daughter a flat car tyre that I reported to Dan Cregan, he was able to get the Department for Infrastructure and Transport’s emergency response team fixing it within a couple of hours. Hopefully we will also start seeing our State Hills roads being fully reconstructed, work that in many cases is desperately needed.

But as for new footpaths on council roadsides, that would be much appreciated please new councillors!

Lynton Vonow, Lobethal

Two faced

AUSTRALIA’S previous Government told New Zealanders living here who had committed serious crimes in Australia that they were to be sent back to NZ as their country of birth.

A deferred decision by Australia to bring home 42 children and 16 women from a horror refugee camp in Syria has still too many critics in Australia from the conservative side of politics.

Other countries have accepted their responsibilities and are bringing their citizens home. Conservative Australia is looking two faced.

Glen Chenoweth, Goolwa North

Interchange solution

WHY not half an interchange at Hahndorf?

Koutsantonis’ bizarre decision to cancel the Hahndorf interchange is still on my mind.

And I’ve thought of a solution.

Why not build just half an interchange on the freeway at the southern end of Hahndorf? Here’s what he could do:

• Build an off ramp on the up track leading to Echunga Road via a two lane tunnel under the freeway.
• Build an off ramp on the down track that leads to Echunga Road.
• Build an on ramp onto the down track of the freeway from Echunga Road.
• Build an on ramp onto the freeway up track via the tunnel under the freeway, from Echunga Road.

But definitely do not build any road through the Beerenberg Farm to Mt Barker Road. This proposal would mean that all commuter and truck traffic wanting to head south via Echunga Road would no longer need to drive through Hahndorf at all.

Neither would all the tourist traffic wanting to go to Echunga, Meadows, Macclesfield and Strathalbyn be compelled to drive through Hahndorf.

The only traffic exiting at Verdun to go to Hahndorf would be people who actually wanted to go there.

And that would surely stop the traffic problems in Hahndorf. And as a bonus, Beerenberg Farm wouldn’t be affected.

It would be saved. And not having to acquire any of the Beerenberg land means it would be so much cheaper to build this important project.

Doing it this way also eliminates a big roundabout on Mt Barker Road.  

This would also reduce the cost of the project. So what do you say Koutsie?

Can us Hills folk please have another half an interchange at Hahndorf ?

Of course the Labor government has experience building half an interchange. It was Labor which built the one on the freeway at Verdun in the 1970s. That’s right, Labor built it.

So building this one should be a breeze for Koutsie!

Bill Hankin, Candidate for Mt Barker Council South Ward, 18 Bollen Rd, Mt Barker, 5251

Congestion solution

I MUST have been looking closely at the Heysen Boulevard as it caused me to be as concerned as Graham Hughes is about future congestion (The Courier, October 12).

None of the proposed work on the bridge over the freeway, although thoughtfully presented, will be a solution to serious traffic congestion, as a result of traffic from Heysen Boulevard being directed down Hawthorn Road.

Graham Hughes’ solution to be able to access the freeway with a main road constructed to the West of Mt Barker is an elegant solution.

A never to be repeated opportunity, unless planning begins now.

There are the basic bones of a solution waiting for the planners, up past Totness Park joining up with Haines firetrack and Paechtown Road.

By using a much upgraded Paechtown Road to Hahndorf it could even alleviate the truck traffic though Hahndorf. A simple interchange at the top of Paechtown Road adjacent to the freeway would be a planners dream.

Keep the pressure on your local members of Council, plus State and Federal Government Members!

Rob Gilbert, Stirling