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As expected, drivers who commute from Adelaide’s eastern suburbs into the city are experiencing delays this week due to the current Adelaide 500 road closures. We’ve crunched the numbers to see which roads have been hardest hit.
Of the impacted roads analysed by RAA, The Parade was one of the worst affected, with median travel times on Monday morning blowing out to more than six times usual peak-hour levels. Median travel times between Portrush Road and Fullarton Road increased from taking five minutes during the normal morning commute to up to 30 minutes on Monday morning.
Other arterials under duress include Payneham Road/North Terrace, Magill Road and Greenhill Road (between Devereux Road and Portrush Road), where median morning journey times doubled, often taking around 20-30 minutes longer than usual.
RAA Senior Manager Safety and Infrastructure Charles Mountain said drivers could potentially avoid the worst delays by leaving earlier if it was an option for them.
“Delays for drivers travelling into the city from the eastern suburbs are inevitable while the current road closures are in place, so our advice is to use alternate transport options or work from home if possible,” he said.
“With a favourable weather forecast this week, it’s a good opportunity to cycle, walk or take public transport.”
“Another strategy for drivers would be to leave earlier than usual. Traffic data from Monday and Tuesday this week shows that severe delays didn’t begin until around 7.30am, so if you are travelling earlier than that you should miss the worst of the traffic.”
The traffic data analysed by RAA also shows the morning peak period lasted 30-60 minutes longer than usual on many affected roads, meaning the heavy traffic levels remained on many roads until nearly 10am.
It also shows travel times for drivers travelling from south of the CBD into the city were less affected, with Unley Road’s median travel time only increasing by four minutes.
The current Adelaide 500 road closures remain in place until between 6-8 December, and can be viewed here.