No parking signs turfed into creek at hospital redevelopment site

Council staff have to fish temporary "no parking" signs out of a creek in Mount Barker after tradies vented their frustration at a lack of space for their vehicles.

The steel signs had been erected along residential streets surrounding a key public hospital redevelopment site in the Adelaide Hills.

The area has been inundated with workers' vehicles since construction began in mid-2025 — to the frustration of residents.

"It's terrible," a resident of Deer Avenue told 891 ABC Adelaide roving reporter Troy Sincock.

"Three or four weeks ago, you would have come in here and you wouldn't have been able to get a truck up the street.

"There's cars on both sides, over driveways, people giving no consideration for people who've got to get in and out of their driveways or, if they've got a caravan, they can't get in or out.

"Even a small trailer, you have trouble getting in and out with.

"And it's not just in front of your home either. It's literally every street in the surrounding area, hundreds and hundreds of vehicles."

The resident said Mount Barker District Council had worked to minimise congestion by erecting temporary "no parking" signs that restricted parking to one side of certain streets between 9am and 4pm on weekdays, which had helped.

But the council last night posted an image on its social media site depicting a handful of the signs thrown into Duck Flat Creek.

Plenty of other no parking signs had been knocked over and thrown aside in various locations around the site as well.

Council Mayor David Leach said "council staff had better things to do than fish parking signs out of Duck Flat Creek".

"It would have taken a ute or a trailer to move that quantity of signs; they're not tiny items that fit into the back of your car,"

he said.

"Someone's gone to a fair amount of trouble to do this and, while it may seem amusing to some, I can assure whoever did it that they've attracted the attention of SAPOL and it's a criminal offence."

He said the council was working to come up with an "equitable solution that looked after the contractors, the people who live in those streets, the very valued medical staff, and the people who just have to get around that part of town".

Boosting capacity

The $365.8 million New Mount Barker Hospital Development is taking place on the existing hospital site and will boost its capacity from 34 to 102 beds.

Construction started mid-2025 and will include a multi-storey car park.

The new main hospital building is due to be completed at the end of 2027, but demolition and final works will continue into 2028.

The existing hospital remains open 24 hours a day, with temporary speed and lane restrictions in place.

Some 891 ABC Adelaide listeners sympathised with the tradies, pointing out on the text line that they could not park too far away from the worksite.

"How can the tradies do their work if they can't park? It's not just walking to work. They have to carry all their tools" — Jody, Woodcroft.

"Where do they think people are gonna [sic] park to build a bloody joint? Unbelievable" — Anonymous.

"Why not park at the oval and have a shuttle bus to work?" — Anonymous.

"Wonder how many people are clogging the local supermarket carpark now that they've been restricted around the hospital? Seems to have got a lot busier recently" — Anonymous.

New car park nearly finished

Cr Leach said the hospital's new "massive car park" would be finished in a few weeks, adding 360 new car parks to the existing parking on-site.

"There's 580 car parks in there that will substantially alleviate the problem," he said.

"The hospital is going to be something that will be really appreciated by the community.

"It's just this period where we have contractors on site as they're finishing the building and doing the work.

"We need to get the parking sorted and the relief is on its way."

He said that while the council did not have the power to dictate who could use the new car park, it had been in consultation with the state government, which owned the building, and was sure an "equitable solution" could be reached quickly.

But he rejected suggestions that contractors in the meantime could park at Paterson Reserve, which he said was about 330 metres away from the hospital and was a memorial and site for graves, including an infant's.

"Nobody would want their local park turned into a car park," he said.

"They build massive buildings in the CBD and tradies have to find their way there and ways to park.

"There are plenty of other places around town that people can park."

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