Thousands of signatures petitioning for Hahndorf truck inquiry call
A petition to see heavy vehicles and trucks removed from Adelaide Hills roads has garnered more than 10,000 signatures, with one MLC planning to call for a public inquiry in state parliament today.
A petition with more than 10,000 signatures is calling for the state government to “reverse its decision to divert heavy trucks onto River and Strathalbyn Roads from Main Street in Hahndorf” after the state Transport Department implemented the truck reroute in November 2023.
Greens member Robert Simms labelled the diversion as an “example of very poor planning by the government”.
“There’s been 10,000 people that have signed this petition saying they’re concerned, and the Malinauskas Government have done nothing,” Simms said.
Petition organiser Anne Fordham said the truck reroute created “additional concerns” for up to 120 residents on River and Strathalbyn Road.
The main concerns raised by the petition include the roads being “ill-suited for trucks”, high safety concerns for locals, an inefficient truck route and does not solve Hahndorf’s traffic issue.
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Some safety concerns raised by residents included near misses from trucks when exiting their driveways and being run off the road by trucks.
The petition also raised concerns over the impact of local wildlife at Goyder Reserve and the Onkaparinga River wildlife corridor.
The impact included potential disturbances and destruction to local wildlife for species of native birds, bats, reptiles and marsupials.
“It was designed to solve Hahndorf’s traffic problems — it hasn’t done that, and the traffic problems in Hahndorf is worse than it has ever been,” Fordham said.
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She said there was a lack of community consultation when the changes were first implemented in 2023.
“We have had good communication with [Department of Transport] and the minister at times, but it hasn’t eventuated into any action,” Fordham said.
“The majority of the community is behind us because they think it was a dumb concept to begin with — most people know River Road and just don’t agree with the diversion.”
Fordham wanted to see the government “encourage other forms of transport”, “reduce the reliance on the single road” into Hahndorf and potentially “remove traffic off the main street”.
“There has to be some form of rapid transport to be able to get to Hahndorf because at the moment people take their cars as it’s so difficult to get to with the public transport.”
“We need to come up with a low-impact solution that the government can get behind, is cost-effective and has that concept of integrated transport,” Fordham said.
Simms would raise a motion in the Legislative Council today to seek a public inquiry into the issue.
“The Greens have been advocating for other solutions to try and reduce congestion with things like improved public transport options to the hills,” Simms said.
“What I’d like to do is have the parliamentary committee look into it so we can see what the range of alternative options are rather than just this solution being imposed on the community.”
Transport Minister EmilyBourke and the Department of Infrastructure and Transport was contacted for comment.
