Adelaide to Tailem Bend via 'South Eastern Freeway'

100km drive from the heart of Adelaide's CBD to Tailem Bend, travelling along the South Eastern Freeway through the Adelaide Hills and the Murraylands.
Along the way, we travel through Glen Osmond (start of the South Eastern Freeway) and bypass Stirling, Hahndorf, Mount Barker and Murray Bridge.
Murray Bridge marks the end of the South Eastern Freeway, where the roadway continues as the Princes Highway due west.
At Tailem Bend (20km SE of Murray Bridge), the road divides into the Dukes Highway inland and the Princes Highway along the coastline.
(The Dukes Highway changes name to the Western Highway approaching the Victorian Border near Bordertown)
65 minutes real time combined into a 6 minute timelapse
Produced by Richard Frimpong
All music from KZbin Audio Library
Raindrops
Home Stretch
Darker Thoughts

[@GoJoGeoff]

Great ride Richard. The drive immediately out of Adelaide and up the hills looks quite awesome!

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Thanks Geoff!

[@HappyfoxBiz]

I come back here over a year later and I'm still thrilled by this road, it's an enjoyable drive

[@KM-ep4hh]

GEEZERS CRISHT OMG COOL LOVE YOUR VIDS

[@AUTOVIAJOSAN]

Thank you so much for this !! .. Excellent video all around :)

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Thanks, Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JamesJimmaHarding]

It's a very beautiful drive going through the Adelaide hills on that freeway 1:43 The distance on the right is the one that's actually there. Interesting to see Sydney get mentioned in this particular location

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Thanks James! Glad you enjoyed it! The sign on the left is also there, but it was only erected a year or so ago! To further add, you can use this route to get to Sydney (Sturt Highway (A20) more direct though), but you have to turn off onto the Mellee Highway, 5km east of Tailem Bend

[@nathanielpillar8012]

*Mallee Highway

[@saurabhhasija05]

Nice presentation. Good job. Really liked your video!!

[@RoadTubeRichard]

+Saurabh Hasija Thank you!

[@FreewayBrent]

This has to be one of the coolest freeway drives in Australia. 6 lanes along a meandering course, especially with those cuts in the rocks, this looks pretty fun to drive along. Any plans to link this with the future major north-south freeway that's being ultimately planned for construction?

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Unfortunately not Brent. At least at this stage. The planned North-South Motorway is expected to transverse the City on the western side, whilst the South Eastern Freeway starts on the eastern side of town. The only real way of connecting these two freeways is to provide some sort of corridor along Cross Road (A3), which will be difficult given most of the properties along this route are heritage listed and the suburbs around this area are among the most affluent in Adelaide with property prices above $1m. You also have similar issues on Portrush Road (A17) despite it already being an existing freight route. Any South Australian Project will kick up a political storm, especially in the inner east and inner south-eastern suburbs. Hopefully this covered your question.

[@nathanielpillar8012]

There's also the possibility of glen osmond road, which is alittle more open. They could then use part of the ring-route to take it to South road.

[@peterfreeman8785]

@@RoadTubeRichard Two routes have been mooted, but there are no firm plans and any action would be well over a decade away.

[@sedementdust5403]

0:30-1:04 Adelaide 1:35 freeway starts 2:00-2:02 tunnel 2:17 lane reduction 2:25 110 km/h 3:00 music change 4:40 freeway ends 4:40-4:46 bridge 4:47 Princes highway 5:22 Tailem bend 5:43 Dukes highway 5:50 end

[@MDCSWildcats86]

Music for second half of presentation? LOVE it!!!!

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Glad you enjoyed it Nathan!

[@blueberrysavers3547]

Darker Thoughts by Silent Parker

[@TransCanadaPhil]

good stuff. I think I'd find it very difficult to learn to drive on the left side of the road if I was to visit Australia

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Thanks! I could say likewise :P

[@TheSolarcatcher]

Nice work Richard! I guess I'm too spoiled being in the U.S. when I see a four-lane road shrink to two lanes and you still have tons of kilometres to go to the next major city. But I wonder why haven't twinned that bridge over the river? It would seem much more efficient.

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Money and priority are the obvious reasons. The Swanport Bridge only has an AADT Volume of 6700 vehicles, hence a 2 lane highway is still well beyond sufficient at this stage. It does continue as a 4 lane highway as you worked out for the remaining 18 km to Tailem Bend. Having a second bridge spanning 1 km would probably cost US$200 (at least) and would probably not create much of an economic benefit that some of the major projects occurring in the city does. As you also pointed out, the road is two laned from Tailem Bend for another 500km until just outside Ballarat where it becomes a freeway to Melbourne, nonetheless there are overtaking lanes every 3 to 5 km. So nothing like the impressive interstate system in the US. However, the Hume Freeway does provide 880 km of dual carriageway between Melbourne and Sydney and the Pacific Motorway will provide the same between Sydney and Brisbane on the East Coast. I have a feeling a feeling the Adelaide to Melbourne route will be next :)

[@EpicThe112]

Great Job Richard and both SA and NSW use 100 km/h (60 mph) urban speed limit in cities then a 110 km/h (70 mph) speed limit outside of Urban areas. On a side note I did observe a 100 km/h /110 km/h speed limit change zone on the Hume Highway (M5 & National M31) at Cambelltown, NSW or Moss Vale NSW

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! I've only ever travelled on the Hume Highway myself in Victoria, but I can imagine the Hume Highway being 110km/h at Campbelltown given it is 50km South-West of Sydney and road conditions appear semi rural. It wouldn't surprise me! Moss Vale is well out of Sydney (125km), so I can only imagine it being 110km, unless the road meanders heaps, which I don't think it does.

[@EpicThe112]

Road Tube Excellent information about the Speed zones in Australia and from what I remember back in 2002 there were speed cameras installed from Liverpool down to Golburn to where National M31 meets National M23 and from my 2002 drive on the hume highway (National M31) from Liverpool down to Golburn/Yass there were speed cameras installed every 6-10 km (3-6 mi). Even the VIC section of National M31 has speed cameras installed

[@RoadTubeRichard]

EpicThe112 Did you mean those devices which tell you your speed or speed camera's? The South Eastern Freeway has speed camera's on the downhill which ping you for speeding, which no one in SA likes!

[@alexthompson5275]

I know. I got booked for speeding near broadford. twice

[@dvferyance]

I have studied the roads in Australia there should be a freeway connecting Adelaide with Melbourne.

[@RoadTubeRichard]

I agree, however that is probably not the first priority. Despite growing up in Adelaide and probably having an Adelaide bias, I think the Pacific Highway duplication is more warranted between Sydney and Brisbane. It will probably take a while, considering how long it's taken to duplicate the Hume Hwy (on the NSW side)

[@dvferyance]

I don't get why Australia mainly has 2 lane roads connecting big cites is it becasue they just don't have the money? We have had a huge freeway network in the US for over 40 years now. Even our neighbor to the north Canada at least has mostly 4 lane roads connecting major cities.

[@RoadTubeRichard]

dvferyance It's a combination of a few factors in all honesty. You have to understand that Australia is about the same size as Mainland USA (excluding Alaska). Australia's cities are quite widely spread apart and the population is 23 million as opposed to 315 million. Traffic volumes on our National Highway's aren't anywhere near the rural interstate volumes in the US, except perhaps the Hume Freeway, which is 4 lanes between Melbourne and Sydney already. Money is only a slight factor. Australia is actually economically better than USA (per capita) and we certainly invest ALOT of money into roads. It's just the road projects in the city get more priority. Keep in mind, 63% of Australia's population live in 5 cities (Sydney 4.8m, Melbourne 4.4m, Brisbane 2.2m, Perth 1.9m, Adelaide 1.3m). USA have over 50 cities with more than 1 million people. Concluding, although freeways connecting cities would be nice, the volume of traffic is generally low (5000 AADT), and we already have plenty of overtaking lanes. Although Canada has a similar population density to Australia, the population is more confined right at the US border, which increases traffic movements. My guess is Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal would have alot of US traffic. Australia is an island, so all movements are from and within Australia. I do forsee it happening in the future, but it's certainly not urgent!

[@dvferyance]

Actually the US only has about 6 or 7 cities over a million. NYC, LA, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Dallas and that's about it. While we do have 10 times the population there areas of the country that are desolete. Like the Dakotas Wyoming Montana Neveda, Idaho even parts of Califronia you can drive for hours and see nothing. Four lane lfreeways even run through those areas which I guess is very unique. The Us is actually sparcly populated compared to Chinia and India.

[@RoadTubeRichard]

dvferyance I hate to correct you on this, but USA have well over 50 cities with over a million people, not 7. I don't know how you skipped cities like Atlanta (5.5 million), Miami (5.5 million), San Francisco (4.5 million) and Washington DC (5.8 million). Now I understand where you are coming from in how you define a 'city' population in the US, but the rest of the world measures the population by metropolitan region. We don't break out city population into city proper, urban and metro. We just have metro! See this list to understand where I'm coming from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas Yes, I am completely aware that USA has a low population density (34/sqkm or 86/sqmil) by world standards, but Australia has a density of 3/sqkm (8/sqmil), which is the 3rd lowest in the world! Despite the 'relatively' low population density in the US, they still have enough people close together, as well as volume to warrant 4 lane highways. Your interstates carry more than 20,000 vehicles per day at quiet sections. Europe is the same. Excluding the East Coast, Australia just doesn't need these types of roads yet. Our traffic volumes are low (3000 - 5000 on National Routes). Lower than 1000 on most of our rural B routes. We only have 5 metro regions with a population more than 1 million, Melbourne and Adelaide being the closest together at 740km. I hope you understand where I'm coming from. If you come to Australia, you will definitely understand.

[@andrelot]

Nice video.

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Thanks Andre Lot , glad you enjoyed it

[@yiannisdanatzis2889]

Adelaide feels so underpopulated compared to Melbourne where all 4 freeways heading into the City centre need to be 5 lanes in each direction, Adelaide gets away with Glen Osmond Road just being a single carriageway road

[@LemonMan-nq2qc]

I'm from Sydney but I still like S.A

[@BeeferIRL]

Next episode is western freeway

[@JakesTechandAdventuring]

It’s 80Kp/H along the Murray River bridge, not 100.

[@jacoblewis9346]

🎉

[@alexthompson5275]

Sydney should be listed on the m20 a20 not the m1

[@RoadTubeRichard]

You can also get to Sydney via the Mallee Highway which branches off just after you go through Tailem Bend

[@euroguitar7670]

Please dude....lose the music - it's a fabulous video otherwise - happy to send music over to you FOC - I grew up in Adelaide now live in Europe - did this drive many many times usually continuing on to Melbourne

[@RoadTubeRichard]

Euro Guitar Thanks for the constructive criticism. I will keep it in mind for future videos!

[@yiannisdanatzis2889]

I don't want to be going the other direction in a truck without knowing how to use low enough gear, too dangerous to use foot brakes all the way down hill

[@arnolddavies6734]

Yes, travelling the opposite direction in a truck on this freeway requires concentration and patience to negotiate the long steep decent into the suburbs of Adelaide. A number of accidents have occurred here when trucks have lost their brakes. Low gear is essential.

[@shhmule]

Very rough camera again, coupled with strange music isn't a pleasant viewing experience. If these videos are your channel's main reason for existing, please try improve the quality. Invest in a gimbal mount or a drone for some overhead footage. And quit the electric guitar music.

[@nathanielpillar8012]

how is he supposed to operate a drone while driving at 110km/h on a freeway with no stopping allowed?