The South Australian government is compromising public transport initiatives and causing unnecessary disruption to ensure new projects are finished before the March state election, the opposition says.
Opposition transport spokesman David Pisoni has criticised the closure of major train and tram lines in Adelaide for upgrades, and a decision to rule out a key element to a tram line extension.
He says it's the Labor government's "political imperative" is to have the tram extension and other projects finished before the election.
"If I'm fortunate enough to be the minister for transport in a Liberal government I will guarantee politics is moved to back of a carriage when it comes to public infrastructure decisions," Mr Pisoni said on Monday.
He has also pledged to reverse the decision not to include a right turn at the start of a tram line extension along North Terrace to the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site.
The government has ruled out the right turn from North Terrace onto King William Street, saying its decision will cut down travel times by improving traffic flow through the intersection.
Having a right turn would also add another $20 million to $30 million to the project, it says.
Road Safety Minister Chris Picton says the opposition's criticism is consistent with the position it had taken in regard to all sorts of infrastructure investments.
"We've seen this over the past decade or more. This is just another example of them being anti-investments in our public infrastructure that will benefit the people of South Australia," he said.
But Mr Pisoni says the government has already spent an extra $10 million to speed up the work to ensure it is finished before the election and will force a future government to spend even more.
"Make no mistake Labor's decision to cut the right-hand turn will need to be corrected in the future," he said.
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