Truck stop: semi-trailer ban to get logs and livestock off Hahndorf Main Street

Thursday, 24 August 2023

Large semi-trailer trucks will be banned from Hahndorf’s Main Street under a new solution to remove heavy vehicles carrying logs and livestock from the popular community hub and tourist destination.

The plan, which would see non-local semi-trailers, pig and dog trailers over 15 metres in length redirected down an upgraded River Road, will achieve the reduction in large trucks for which locals have been advocating, but without the significant property acquisitions and devastating impact on local tourist attractions such as Beerenberg Farm that previously-touted options would have involved.

The State Government will install ‘No Trucks Over 15m in Length’ signage alerting drivers to the changed entry rules – with exemptions only if they are taking freight to Main Street business or other destinations they cannot reach by any other route.

The measure, which will be policed to ensure compliance, will remove almost all large heavy vehicles from the Main Street – a reduction of around 130 a day, equivalent to that modelled under previous bypass options.

Trucks with no business in the township will be diverted to alternate routes such as River Road or Strathalbyn Road. These options will be enhanced by improvements to River Road including shoulder sealing and tree trimming, along with intersection improvements at Kangaroo Reef Road, Sawmill Gully Road and Fairview Road. In addition, improvements at the Strathalbyn Road/River Road and Mount Barker Road/River Road junctions are planned, along with works such as shoulder sealing and tree trimming at locations along Strathalbyn Road.

This solution would operate in conjunction with measures already announced under a suite of works to be funded by the Australian and South Australian Governments on an 80:20 basis, including the creation of a full interchange at Verdun and a major upgrade at the Mount Barker Interchange, which modelling suggests would separately remove a further 940 cars and smaller trucks each day from the Main Street.

The ban will be monitored to assess its impact, and we will continue to consider longer-term solutions to broader traffic issues in Hahndorf.