Заброшенный транспортный план для Аделаиды

Abandoned transport scheme for the city of Adelaide

The Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study, or "MATS Plan" as it became known, was a comprehensive transport plan released in 1968 proposing a number of road and rail transport projects for the metropolitan area of Adelaide, South Australia. It recommended the construction of of freeways, 34 kilometres of expressway and the widening of of existing arterial roads. It also featured new arterial roads and a new bridge over the Port River. For public transport, it proposed the closure of the Glenelg tram line, 20 rail grade separations and of new railway line, including a subway under King William Street. The estimated cost of land acquisition and construction was $436.5 million in 1968, which equates to approximately $4,580 million in 2010 with inflation. Very few of the plan's recommendations were ultimately brought to fruition in their original form due to political and public opposition. The car was seen as a personal liberator, and many cities around the world were building their urban forms around the needs of private cars. Adelaide continued to expand rapidly: by 1966 its population had increased by 90% on post war levels. Experts had been warning of the consequences of unplanned urban sprawl leading to a renewed interest in planning. In 1955 the Town Planning Act was amended to require a coordinated plan for the city's future development. The Report of Metropolitan Adelaide was released in 1962 and featured proposals for the construction of freeways. The Mitchell and Kwinana Freeways in Perth forming a north–south freeway present a comparable example to the proposed North South Freeway in Adelaide.

This was to be a freeway constructed in the wide median strip of Port Road that had been left in earlier years for a possible canal leading from Port Adelaide to the Adelaide city centre. It was to go from the Hindmarsh Interchange to the Old Port Road intersection. It would feature pedestrian overpasses but was still criticised for blocking communications across Port Road. Following Port Road, Commercial Road was to continue over a new bridge over the Port River connecting to Victoria Road making a continuous arterial road.

The largest construction project in the plan. The intersection of the Port Freeway, North South Freeway and North Adelaide Connector would have required a four level spaghetti interchange with many flyovers that would have almost engulfed the suburb of Hindmarsh. A Torrens Road bridge over the Gawler railway line was constructed in 2021–2022 and allowed traffic from 18 June 2022, eliminating the level crossing.

This was proposed to be a connection between the new South Eastern Freeway (then under construction from Crafers, leaving the winding old road down to the plains) and the CBD. It would have cut a swathe through College Park, St Peters, Norwood, Rose Park, Myrtle Bank and Urrbrae before leaving the city at Belair Road. Many of Adelaide's most affluent suburbs would have been broken up. This proved to be the most controversial part of the entire MATS plan. It was dropped from subsequent proposals but served to turn public opinion against the rest of the project.

A proposed link between the North South Freeway at Darlington (approximately the point where South Road meets Sturt Road) travelling in a north east direction to meet up with the Hills Freeway at Belair Road. The expressway was scrapped from subsequent proposals with the Hills Freeway.

Starting at the North Adelaide Connector, this would have followed the River Torrens (the O Bahn Busway was later constructed in this corridor instead). At approximately 1 km from the O Bahn's current terminus in Modbury, it would have then turned further north along what is now McIntyre Road through Golden Grove. An express bus service along the freeway giving a similar service to the current O Bahn was proposed. The freeway would have required the relocation of the River Torrens in various sections.

Starting at Port Adelaide, this would have been an east–west connector running roughly parallel to and slightly north of Grand Junction Road and terminating at the Modbury Freeway. The section west of Main North Road has been completed since as the Port River Expressway. However it has not been extended eastward, the original corridor now utilised as Montague Road. + Attributes Noarlunga Freeway Hindmarsh Interchange North Adelaide Connector Port Freeway Salisbury Freeway Hills Freeway Modbury Freeway Cost, land acquisition34,000,00016,700,0005,700,000100,0009,800,00020,000,0007,400,000 Cost, construction58,000,00013,000,00011,500,00015,100,00014,000,00032,000,00042,500,000 Cost, total92,000,00029,700,00017,200,00015,200,00023,800,00052,000,00049,900,000 Estimated cars weekday, 198693,000N/A62,00068,00062,00058,50079,000 Length, kilometres34.42.63.23.312.72.921.2 Lanes8N/A66668

There were various changes to public transport proposed. While the report stated that it was important in directing and shaping urban growth and improving the Adelaide city centre, only 14 kilometres of new railway was proposed compared to 131 kilometres of freeway. many South Australians were cautious about the MATS proposal for the construction of a large freeway network. Opposition was similar to the freeway and expressway revolts experienced in the United States. Large scale property acquisition proved to be one of the most contentious issues, with the very large areas taken up by a number of the proposed freeway interchanges seemingly recommended without any expectation of opposition. The Noarlunga Freeway alone would have required the acquisition as many as 3,000 properties, including 817 residential dwellings. The Hills Freeway would have seen the demolition of significant areas in the historic suburbs of inner south eastern Adelaide. The impact of freeways on the urban landscape also proved to be a considerable source of concern. It was feared freeways would create social problems, with people noting the urban divisions that cities such as Los Angeles experienced after extensive freeway construction, with the separation of neighbourhoods leading to the creation of urban ghettos. It was felt that the same would happen in Adelaide if the proposed freeways were constructed. Dunstan attempted to construct a light rail line in the north east along the Modbury corridor. That was not built, and the O Bahn guided busway was constructed instead. In 1979, the Liberal Party won government on a platform of fiscal conservatism and the premier, David Tonkin, committed his government to selling off the land acquired for the MATS plan, ensuring that even if needs or public opinion changed, the construction of most MATS proposed freeways would be impossible. However, debate continued on a North South Freeway to replace South Road. In 1982, the Minister for Transport Michael Wilson, abandoned the idea of a high speed freeway and instead began widening South Road between Torrens Road and Daws Road as a short term solution, while retaining the key central portion of the North South Corridor between Dry Creek and Darlington as a concept. Freight transport and motoring lobbies generally favoured the plan heavily and, periodically, refer to the rejection of the MATS plan as a lost opportunity. Major road lobby groups as of 2007 continue to call for a north–south freeway in particular with the State Government joining calls for funding under the Federal Government's AusLink Program. Public transport activists criticised the plan due to its limited benefits for public transport and the potential effects on urban sprawl. MATS' proposed North South Freeway began to see fruition when the South Road Superway became the first in a series of mass construction projects to build the non stop North–South Motorway to replace South Road; as of March 2020 approximately 24.3 km of the motorway has been completed from Hindmarsh to Virginia with a 1.8 km link within that length due for completion in 2022. The remaining 10 km through Adelaide's inner west and south west is currently in the planning stages, due for completion in 2032.