The Need For A Plan
Like other states, in South Australia there was a strong movement towards private car travel following the Second World War. Fuel rationing was a thing of the past and private car ownership was increasing. The car was seen as a personal liberator, allowing people to live and travel where they pleased.
Adelaide continued to expand rapidly due to people continuing to choose to live in suburbs as well as population growth and by 1966, Adelaide's population had increased by 90% on post war levels. Experts had been warning of the consequences of unplanned urban sprawl leading to a renewed interest in planning. In 1955 the Town Planning Act was amended to make a requirement for a coordinated plan to guide the future development of Adelaide in the best interest of the community.
The Report of Metropolitan Adelaide was released in 1962 and featured proposals for the construction of freeways, but lacked detail. Experts emphasized the urgent need for road improvement including freeways warning the longer the delay, the more costly and difficult the job would become. In 1964 the South Australian Premier Thomas Playford announced the commencement of a comprehensive planning study for the future of Adelaide's transport needs. This report, titled the Metropolitan Adelaide Transportation Study (MATS) was released in August 1968 together with an announcement that six months would be allowed for public comment before commencement of work.
Read more about this topic: Metropolitan Adelaide Transport Study
Famous quotes containing the word plan:
“Solomon’s ... excess became an insult upon the privileges of mankind; for by the same plan of luxury, which made it necessary to have forty thousand stalls of horses,—he had unfortunately miscalculated his other wants, and so had seven hundred wives....
Wise—deluded man!”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)