The Mount Barker Council is in talks with the State Government about speeding up a slow moving process in connecting the incomplete arterial road, the Heysen Boulevard.
The Adelaide Hills road will one day fully connect the new and upcoming developments in the bustling Hills town to the South Eastern Freeway.
Under the current arrangement it could take years to complete as each major housing developer is required to pay a fee that will be used to pay for the section of the road that runs along their development.
Roughly 60% of the road is so far constructed is not connected together, causing traffic flow issues and other challenges for residents, including a lack of footpaths.
There is no deed to the area around the railway crossing meaning there is no budget for that stretch of the road.
Mayor David Leach said this morning to ARN’s Adam Connelly and Jennie Lenman that he is working to find a solution.
“We are fixing it. I’ve already been in to see Minister Tom Koutsantonis, I’ll be seeing him again in a couple weeks time when he comes up here for Country Cabinet,” Mayor Leach said this morning on ARN.
“The bureacrats, the people who work in Council and the ones who work in the State Government… they’re going to have a meeting where they’re going to thrash this out and come to a solution because it can’t continue the way it is.”
He added he is hopeful the solution to the issue of funding for the railway crossing area is sorted out “very quickly”.
He has also rectified comments in an Advertiser article this morning suggesting there is no money for the completion of the project or that it will never get finished.
“There’s enough money to build the road if all of the developers were building houses at once but that’s impossible… it’s more a timing matter than a lack of money per se,” he said.
Hear more from Mayor David Leach speaking with Jennie Lenman and Adam Connelly via the audio play window below:
