FROM THE PRESIDENT Kathryn Westwood
T
here is a concerning lack of progress on upgrades to a large part Tasmania’s road infrastructure that have been promised by the state and federal governments. This has an impact on both road safety and traffic congestion. A review of our key road funding priorities – as identified in state budget submissions, federal budget and election priorities, our 30-year Greater Hobart Mobility Vision and our Tasmanian Road Futures document – has rated governmental progress against our expectations. Aside from the Midland Highway 10-year plan – which is ahead of schedule – there has been little progress on other upgrades beyond funding under budget forward estimates and planning. Below is a breakdown of progress by priority area:
Bass Highway 10-year plan
We have been calling for urgent safety upgrades on the Bass Highway for
some time, particularly the corridor between Wynyard and Marrawah. There have been 259 crashes on this particular stretch of road between 2015-2019, with two resulting in fatalities and 12 in serious injury. Apart from the tragic and irreversible impact on the victims’ families and community, we know that in 2015 the economic cost of each road fatality was $4.34 million, and the cost per hospitalisation caused by road injury was $239,000. To date, $100 million has been promised for the Wynyard to Marrawah corridor by the state and federal governments under the Roads of Strategic Importance initiative. While planning has commenced, we are yet to see confirmed timelines on these vital upgrades. Other upgrades that we have been calling for include safety improvements at Christmas Hills, and new passing lanes at Parramatta Creek, which are are still in the planning phase. Upgrades of intersections at Wynyard have been completed, but there is still the potential for highspeed crashes involving vehicles turning across traffic, which has always been our concern at these intersections. With this in mind, they continue to be on our radar.
Launceston traffic solutions
We have had repeated reports from members and our advisory committee
about rapidly growing congestion issues in the Greater Launceston area. We are planning to launch a consultation process in the coming months for our Greater Launceston Mobility Vision that will look at a holistic, long-term solution to mobility across the region. In the meantime, we have been calling for a feasibility study regarding a new bridge over the Tamar River, as well as funding for long-term congestion strategies across the region. At this point in time both of these have been allocated funding, but timelines for some projects have not been confirmed. Without a commitment to resolving congestion, it continues to build in the region, causing frustration and adverse impact to people’s lifestyles.
30-year Greater Hobart Mobility Vision
Almost one year on from the launch of our Vision, we have seen funding and some research into the priority actions we have called for in the first 1-5 years. We have seen enforcement of clearways on Macquarie and Davey streets, and more cohesive planning from the four central councils in the Greater Hobart area to work on solutions. However, a lot more needs to be done to achieve our preferred 4% mode shift from private to public transport in the first 10 years of the Vision.
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6 Journeys
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020
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