New priority bus lane for Adelaide road

A priority bus lane will begin operating along Adelaide's Hackney Road this week to improve travel times for commuters.

The city-bound lane will open on Monday as part of the $160 million upgrade to the O-Bahn guided busway which will also include a tunnel through parts of the Adelaide parklands.

A northern-bound priority lane is also expected to open next month.

Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan says the new lanes will cut travel times for the 31,000 people who use the O-Bahn service each day and the 79,000 motorists who use Hackney Road.

"By removing buses from the rest of the traffic we are not only giving our most popular transport network a better run, but we are also removing thousands of buses from the road corridor, freeing up space for more cars," Mr Mullighan said.