Extended CBD road closures flagged for MotoGP
Commuters could be in line for traffic chaos next year with extensions to major CBD road closures flagged ahead of the state’s major motorsports events.
Potential traffic chaos for the Adelaide CBD was flagged last night at Adelaide Town Hall as the South Australian Motor Sports Board (SAMSB) held its Adelaide bp Grand Final Supercars consultation with Adelaide City Council, councillors raising concerns about upcoming major motorsports events.
SAMSB CEO Mark Warren revealed the track for this year’s Supercars, which will take over an extra 142,920sqm of park lands, and gave updates on the progress of the MotoGP city circuit track.
Warren confirmed the declared area for the motorcycle race would “definitely” expand on the area currently used for the Supercars, but the Motor Sports Board would look to “minimise any of the ecological impacts within the park lands”.
Many questions about potential park lands tree loss and damage to make way for the MotoGP track went unanswered, with Warren saying the board was still in the development phase for the course.
Questions were asked by councillor Henry Davis about extended road closures in 2027, as the MotoGP takes to Adelaide streets for the first time in November about three weeks before the Supercars hit the road.
The MotoGP, which was announced by Premier Peter Malinauskas in February, will be an annual three-day event held in the CBD from 2027 onwards and take place on a street circuit similar to the 1995 Adelaide Formula One.
Davis flagged that Wakefield Road and parts of East Terrace could be closed for up to a month in 2027 while the two events take place, creating problems for eastern suburbs residents commuting into the city.
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Currently, Hutt Street, Bartels Road and Dequetteville Terrace are closed for 11 days annually during the Supercars, while Wakefield Street and East Terrace are closed for 13 days.
“I suspect that a decision will be made to just keep [the roads] closed the entire time and not pack down and set it back up again,” Davis said.
“So, it could be the case that these roads don’t close down for 13 days, but rather they close down for essentially a month.”
Warren told council that it was “unlikely” that all roads would reopen during the weeks between the two motor sport events next year.
He said it remained a priority to reopen Dequetteville Terrace and Bartels Road quickly to allow for commuters from the eastern suburb to get into the city.
“It’s not practical to open every road because there’s going to be infrastructure in place that is difficult to remove,” he said.
“We focus very much on the heavily trafficked roads, because we absolutely understand people need commuters, particularly getting into town, we need to reopen the roads between the two events.”
Meanwhile, a ‘New Associated Motor Sport Event’— described by Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith as a “shock” — that was expected to take over the Adelaide Park Lands for an extra weekend prior to this year’s bp Adelaide Grand Final from November 20 to 22 was now unlikely to go ahead.
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The SAMSB CEO said the additional event would instead take place on the same weekend as the Supercars.
The new MotoGP street circuit will need to be approved by the world MotoGP governing body the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) before the track can be built, while public consultation for the track design is estimated to start in July.
Warren anticipated protests around the track design but has asked the public to wait for “all the facts” and “then we can actually have the debate around it”.
Potential habitat loss to the rare Chequered Copper Butterfly in Victoria Park remained an area of contention, with Warren saying the area was “unlikely” to be affected by this year’s Supercars works despite the increase to park lands use.
But council remains concerned that future events could disrupt the habitat and will request that SAMSB completely remove the conservation zone from any future proposed motor sports activity.
This year’s Supercars event will expand by 130,000sqm in Carriageway Park/Tuthangga (Park 17) in the south-east of the park lands near the wetlands to accommodate 1500 car parking spaces which were previously located in Park 16.
Council will provide a list of recommendations to SAMSB following the Tuesday night’s consultation, with Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith writing a letter to the motor sports board.
The Adelaide Park Lands Association will also be hosting a ‘Stop the Chop’ protest at Victoria Park this Saturday and will be tying yellow ribbons on trees.
It follows months of demonstrations and protests against the removal of 585 trees for the North Adelaide Golf Course development.
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