Southern Expressway (South Australia)
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Southern Expressway South Australia |
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| Main South Road at the northern end of the expressway (looking south), closed to south-bound traffic in 2008 before the second carriageway was built | |
 North end
South end
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| Coordinates |
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| Type | Freeway |
| Length | 18.5 km (11 mi) |
| Opened | 17 December 1997 |
| Maintained by | Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure |
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| South end | |
| Major suburbs / towns | Bedford Park, Darlington, O'Halloran Hill, Trott Park, Reynella, Morphett Vale, Noarlunga Downs, Seaford |
M2
The Southern Expressway is an 18.5 km (11.5 mi) freeway in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, between Bedford Park and Old Noarlunga. It is signed as M2.
The Southern Expressway was built as a corridor to relieve heavy traffic from the major arterial, Main South Road, in Adelaide's south. It was originally built as a reversible one way freeway, and was the world's longest after its completion in 2001. Between 2010 and 2014 it was expanded and it is now a regular 2-direction freeway.
Construction of the expressway also included the Adelaide Southern Veloway for cyclists, which runs alongside it for 7 km, from Marion/Main South Road to the Panalatinga Tunnel. South of the Panalatinga Tunnel, the bikeway becomes a shared track for the remaining 12 km of the expressway. The expressway crosses over the Coast to Vines rail trail at both Panalatinga Road and at the expressway's Southern end.
The expressway is the southern part of a north-south freeway originally conceptualised under the Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study (MATS), completed in 1965, as a freeway bypassing the city from Dry Creek to Old Noarlunga. The MATS plan proved unpopular, and in 1971 all further highway construction in Adelaide was postponed for a period of ten years. In 1983 plans for the freeway north of Darlington were abandoned, and the land that had been set aside was progressively sold off.
In 1984 the state government announced plans to develop a "third arterial road" for the south. In 1987 the project was split into two phases, the first the upgrading of Main South Road and Marion Road in the Darlington area, and the second a new road from Darlington to Reynella. Phase one was completed in 1994 with the widening of Main South Road to eight lanes between Ayliffes Road and Seacombe Road, and the widening of Marion Road to six lanes between Main South Road and Sturt Road.
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