Port River Expressway is a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

-grade road. The expressway links

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

and the

LeFevre Peninsula The Lefevre Peninsula is a peninsula located in the Australian state of South Australia located about northwest of the Adelaide city centre. It is a narrow sand spit of about running north from its connection to the mainland. The name given t ...

across the north-western suburbs of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

to major interstate routes via North-South Motorway. The expressway is only grade-separated at the North-South Motorway, Hanson Road and Eastern Parade interchanges; the following two intersections are at grade with traffic signals installed. This has led to the route being labelled as the A9, instead of the more common M label associated with freeways and expressways in South Australia.

Construction

The Port River Expressway was built in three stages: *Stage 1 - Was opened for traffic on 19 July 2005. It consists of a four-lane expressway link between Francis Street and the then South Road, Adelaide, now North-South Motorway; with an overpass at each of the junctions of the North-South Motorway, Hanson Road and Eastern Parade. *Stage 2 - Consists of a four lane high-level, opening road bridge across the Port River between Docks 1 and 2, linking Stage 1 at Francis Street to Victoria Road on Le Fevre Peninsula. This section opened on 3 August 2008 *Stage 3 - Consists of a single track, dual gauge, high-level, opening rail bridge across the Port River, north of the road bridge, with connections to the existing

rail system Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

. Opened in June 2008. Stage 1 connected at what had previously been a bend between extensions of South Road and Salisbury Highway both of which had been extended in the early 1990s to meet each other. The original plan had been to install traffic lights at that intersection. Instead, an overpass was constructed with a loop through the Barker Inlet wetlands to provide a non-stop interchange. The bridge (for traffic travelling north on South Road to east on Salisbury Highway and east on Port River Expressway to south on South Road) was named the Craig Gilbert Bridge, after the lead designer of the overpass, but died of cancer before it opened; the bridge was opened and named in his honour on 19 July 2005. It was closed and demolished in May 2019 as part of the construction of the Northern Connector on the

North–South Motorway The North–South Motorway is a partially complete motorway traversing the inner western suburbs of Adelaide from Waterloo Corner in the north to Bedford Park in the south. Progressively constructed in stages since 2010, once complete it will ...

which included new wider bridges on a slightly more westerly alignment. The Port River Expressway is now a major thoroughfare for freight and passenger road traffic travelling from the northern suburbs to the major port facilities of South Australia in Port Adelaide and Outer Harbor. The construction of Stages 2 and 3 was carried out by Abigroup. During 2018, 2019 and 2020, construction workers were putting up new elements on the expressway, as part of the Northern Connector project of the

Cycling

As there is no parallel shared path near most of the Expressway and Salisbury Highway west of Port Wakefield Road, cycling is permitted on the road, except for restrictions due to closed road shoulders during construction of the Northern Connector of the

from 2017 to 2019. Parts of the detour route were new shared paths constructed or upgraded in anticipation of this detour. The bridge over the Port River includes a shared path on the southern side of the road as part of the construction. At the time of designing Stage 1 of the Expressway, the developers did not imagine that there would be much requirement for people to cycle along it, as

Mawson Lakes Mawson Lakes is a residential suburb in the City of Salisbury, Adelaide, Australia. Named in honor of Sir Douglas Mawson, it has a census area population of 10,872 people. The suburb is located in the northern suburbs of Adelaide around 12 ...

had not been developed for housing yet, so the Port River Expressway was seen as only connecting industries to other industries.

Exits and interchanges

Port River Expressway is entirely contained within the City of Port Adelaide Enfield

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

Gallery

Image:PREXYSouthRoad.jpg, Port River Expressway approaching the Craig Gilbert Bridge and

South Road South Road and its southern section as Main South Road outside of Adelaide is a major north–south conduit connecting Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula, in South Australia. It is one of Adelaide's most important arterial and bypass roads. As ...

exit from the west (before North-South Motorway bridges were built) Image:PREXYPortAdelaide.jpg, Port River Expressway approaching the Eastern Parade overpass heading east Image:TomDiverDerrickBridgeJuly08.jpg,

Tom 'Diver' Derrick Bridge The Tom 'Diver' Derrick Bridge, commonly referred to as the 'Diver' Derrick Bridge, is an opening single-leaf bascule road bridge over the Port River, Port Adelaide, in South Australia. It opened on 1 August 2008. It is located between Docks 1 ...

over the Port River. File:Diver Derrik and Mary McKillop bridges open in 2010.jpg, The

Mary MacKillop Bridge The Mary MacKillop Bridge is a bascule bridge in Adelaide, Australia that carries the Dry Creek-Port Adelaide railway line over the Port River. In July 2005, Abigroup was awarded a contract to build a railway bridge and the adjoining Tom 'Diver' ...

, adjacent to the Tom "Diver" Derrick road bridge Image:Port expressway, south road.jpg , Looking west at Craig Gilbert Bridge carrying

(before North-South Motorway construction)

References

External links