The biggest ever investment in Adelaide’s public transport infrastructure unveiled in today’s budget is a massive step in preparing the state for boom times.
According to Property Council (SA Division) Executive Director Nathan Paine, the Budget’s initiatives for public transport will be essential in delivering sustainable population growth for Adelaide.
“We’re expecting that the state’s population will swell to 2 million by 2030, and that poses a huge challenge in not only housing our people, but moving them as well,” Mr Paine says.
“We welcome the light rail extension to the Entertainment Centre and electrification of the rail system to Port Adelaide and West Lakes and along the southern line; these are obvious focus areas of economic and population growth, and they provide us with fantastic opportunities to locate as many as 300,000 people in Transit Oriented Developments, or TODs, in these areas.
“Let us not underestimate the importance of the Government’s investment in the future – this announcement will reshape how Adelaide looks and feels as a city and will no doubt affect how we see ourselves – a city of the future, not a city of the past.”
Transit Oriented Development is one of the themes of the Property Council’s Redesigning Adelaide 2036 seminar series.
It encourages medium-density housing near or on transport nodes, increasing capacity to house more people in closer proximity to employment zones, reducing our reliance on private vehicles.
“Now the Government has committed to TODs, we need to see them being rolled out along all our major corridors in conjunction with ongoing improvements to services,” Mr Paine said.
“We need a robust governance structure to oversee and guide the implementation of good TODs that serve their purpose – reducing our reliance on cars and adding another option to our housing mix.
“We have advocated an Urban Renewal Commission be charged with this role; now the TODs process is underway we look forward to discussing this proposal with the Government.”
