Emerson Crossing, also known as the South Road Overpass (or simply ''the Overpass'') are the informal names given to the intersection of

South Road South Road and its southern section as Main South Road outside of Adelaide is a major north–south conduit connecting Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula, in South Australia. It is one of Adelaide's most important arterial and bypass roads. A ...

, Cross Road and the

Seaford railway line The Seaford line is a commuter railway line in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. It is the city's second longest metropolitan railway line at . History Before the extension of the line to Noarlunga Centre railway station, Noarlunga Centr ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. South Road crosses north–south over both Cross Road and the diagonal railway via a large bridge built in the early 1980s. This was done in an attempt to cater for the ever increasing amount of traffic which went through the intersection and was constantly congested during peak hour times.

Emerson railway station Emerson railway station is located on the Seaford and Flinders lines. Situated in the inner south-western Adelaide suburb of Black Forest, it is 7.1 kilometres from Adelaide station. History Passenger trains first stopped at Emerson Statio ...

is located in the north eastern corner of the crossing. The station and crossing are both named after Emerson Street, a small dead end road just north of the intersection along South Road, in the suburb of

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

. The grade separation at Emerson Crossing is by a 3-span bridge. The centre span is , with a span each end. The abutments and embankments were constructed using the

reinforced earth Mechanically stabilized earth (MSE or reinforced soil) is soil constructed with artificial reinforcing. It can be used for retaining walls, bridge abutments, seawalls, and dikes. Although the basic principles of MSE have been used throughout his ...

system and completed in 1983. The main bridge work was awarded to

Baulderstone Baulderstone, formerly Baulderstone Hornibrook, was an Australian construction company. History MR Hornibrook In 1926, Manuel Hornibrook founded a construction company in Brisbane. Amongst its notable projects were the Story Bridge and William J ...

. It was commenced in January 1984 and was completed in 13 months. The overpass was designed by the

Highways Department of South Australia The Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) is a department of the Government of South Australia. It is responsible for maintaining, expanding and operating the statewide road network. In addition to road transport, the department i ...

. It incorporates

Texas U-turn A Texas U-turn, or Texas turnaround, boomerang, or loop around, is a lane allowing cars traveling on one side of a one-way frontage road to U-turn onto the opposite frontage road (typically crossing over or under a freeway or expressway). Typica ...

facilities. It was officially opened jointly by

John Bannon John Charles Bannon (7 May 1943 – 13 December 2015) was an Australian politician and academic. He was the 39th Premier of South Australia, leading the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch), South Australian Branch of the Australia ...

(the

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier i ...

) and Peter Morris (the Federal Minister of Transport) on 14 March 1985.

References

{{Reflist Transport in Adelaide Road junctions in Australia