Sturt Precinct Traffic Study

About the project

The Sturt Precinct is an area bounded by Diagonal Road, the Southern Expressway, Marion Road and Sturt Road. In early 2023 local residents raised concerns about congestion, access and difficulty with exiting the precinct during peak times. In October 2023 we held a community meeting to discuss safety and access concerns in the local area.

We have undertaken a traffic study for the Sturt Precinct area to better understand local community issues and concerns about safety and access. The study reviewed the existing conditions of the area. This included collecting and evaluating data such as:

traffic volumes, movements and vehicle delays
public transport use and routes
pedestrian and cycling movement surveys
vehicle crash analysis.

What's happening

As well as local feedback, we have undertaken a range of activities to collect and analyse data to better understand existing conditions of the area.

In response to feedback we have:

re-painted the existing Keep Clear markings on Sturt Road at Duncan Street, Grandview Drive and The Parkway
installed new Keep Clear line markings on Marion Road (northbound carriageway) at Parkmore Avenue
trimmed the vegetation on Marion Road.

More information on local feedback and next steps is in our May 2025 project update (PDF 565KB).

We will use community insights and our technical analysis to identify opportunities that can inform future funding considerations for improvements in the area.

Key findings

Traffic volumes on Sturt Road and Diagonal Road have only changed marginally over the past ten years, whilst Marion Road traffic volumes have increased by approximately 2.5% per year over this period.
Key generators of traffic activity in the study area include:
- The North South Corridor (Southern Expressway), with Marion Road providing a key access to and from the Corridor.
- Marion Shopping Centre and nearby facilities that serve as a regional hub.
- The Marion Centre Bus Interchange (located at the Marion Shopping Centre).
- Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre.
- Various primary and secondary schools in the area.
The Study area has a high level of access to sustainable transport facilities, including public transport (bus and rail) as well as off-road walking trails and on and off-road cycling facilities.
Analysis of the traffic survey data identified there are periods of delay for drivers turning right out from side roads, particularly along Sturt Road during peak periods. These delays observed generally do not exceed an average of two minutes. It is noted that delays experienced by traffic accessing the side roads during the peak hour periods are not unusual on the arterial network. For example, during peak periods a vehicle can wait two to three traffic signal cycles to get through an intersection. This equates to about five to six minutes of delay.
During peak periods, queuing of northbound traffic on Marion Road, south of Sturt Road, and queuing on Sturt Road in both directions, between Diagonal Road and Marion Road, can result in vehicles queuing through and blocking the local road junctions.
Queuing along Marion Road and Sturt Road is observed to influence the operation at the minor road junctions, particularly if traffic queues through a junction prevent vehicles from entering during peak periods.
The operation and congestion at these major intersections (Marion Road and Sturt Road as well as Sturt Road and Diagonal Road) needs to be considered in the context of broader network operations and travel demands. As such, the Study does not investigate these specific intersections.

Go to our key documents for visual representations of the study area, movements, volumes and data we collected during the study.