Under our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future, a re-elected majority Liberal Government will:
- Invest $80 million towards another bridge linking the East and West Tamar Highways.
- Improve the safety of the East and West Tamar Highways.
- Help fund the completion of a four-lane Bass Highway between Launceston and Deloraine as detailed in our Bass Highway Corridor strategy.
- Invest in key road links in the North-East, including the Tasman Highway through the Sideling and Bridport Road.
- Commit $150,000 to implement sound mitigation for residents of Glen Dhu adjacent to the Southern outlet.
An important part of our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania's future is to get Tasmanians home to their loved ones safer and sooner by building better roads across the State.
Tasmania’s increasing population and strong economy means improvements are required for our roads and bridges in the north, including projects to improve safety and efficiency of key freight and residential corridors, such as the Bass Highway, East and West Tamar Highways and Bridport Road.
A re-elected Liberal majority Government will commit significant new funding to roads and bridges in the north of the State.
The new works include:
- $80 million towards the construction of a new bridge across the Tamar River between Riverside and University Way at Newnham.
- $20 million towards the duplication of the Bass Highway into a consistent four-lane link between Launceston and Deloraine.
- $20 million towards improvements to the East Tamar Highway as identified in the East Tamar Highway Corridor Strategy. This will include extra overtaking lanes, road-widening, intersection improvements and duplication of sections to two lanes in each direction.
- A further $20 million to improvements to the West Tamar Highway as identified in the West Tamar Highway Corridor Strategy, completing the Legana duplication and associated works, and the Legana to Beauty Point section of the Highway. This will include safety and efficiency measures such as road widening, overtaking lanes and junction improvements.
- Invest a further $5 million into Bridport Road, towards improvements for heavy vehicle freight traffic and safety improvements.
- Commit $150,000 to implement sound mitigation for residents of Glen Dhu adjacent to the Southern outlet.
The Government has completed a business case for the construction of a second Tamar River crossing between the West Tamar Highway and the East Tamar Highway. This business case has been submitted to Infrastructure Australia to enable Australian Government co-funding necessary for a project of this scale.
This strong commitment is in stark contrast to Labor, which has continually fought against this project for the people of Launceston, including through the 2021 election campaign when they thoroughly rejected the project.
The business case will be subject to a full and open public consultation on the potential preferred location and alignment.
The 2022-23 budget provided $25 million for this project through the Launceston and Tamar Valley Traffic Vision.
A number of traffic studies have considered the need for a second river crossing of the Tamar River as part of a broader Launceston transport plan to better manage the growth in traffic volumes on the West Tamar Highway.
The Bass Highway is a key corridor linking major population centres, transport hubs and agricultural areas across the State. The Bass Highway Corridor Strategy – Launceston to Devonport identifies 66 potential improvements for the 91 km section from Hadspen to east of Port Sorell Road.
We will prioritise the duplication of the highway between Hadspen and Deloraine to deliver a safe and consistent four-lane link for passenger and freight vehicles along this high-volume road, which has been progressively realigned to bypass towns, enabling full duplication. Traffic is increased at a rate of two per cent annually and four per cent for heavy vehicles, which already make up 20 per cent of total traffic.
The State and Federal Governments have already committed $20 million to Bridport Road improvements. This further commitment by the Liberals will leverage extra funding from the Australian Government to deliver turning lanes at junctions to separate turning traffic from through-traffic, passing lanes for slow-moving traffic, and other safety and efficiency projects for this key freight route between the North-East, George Town and Bell Bay port.
In addition, a Liberal Government will continue delivery already underway including:
- The $565 million Midland Highway 10-year Action Plan. This project is more than two-thirds complete and we are now on the final stretch with works occurring at Ross, Oatlands and north of Campbell Town, and all sections are expected to be completed by early 2025.
- The $120 million Sideling upgrades along the section of the Tasman Highway between Scottsdale and Launceston, with works well advanced between Corkerys Road and Whish-Wilson Road.
- The $84 million East and West Tamar Highway upgrades, including duplication between Freshwater Point Road and Acropolis Drive.
- The $75 million Launceston and Tamar Valley traffic vision, including a business case submission for the new Tamar Bridge to be submitted to Infrastructure Australia in coming months for assessment.
- The $54 million Northern Regional State Roads upgrade, including widening and alignment works west of the Batman Bridge, upgrades to Birralee Road and the eastern portion of Frankford Road.
- Further upgrades to Illawarra Road, with a package of works from Springfield to the Bass Highway due to be released for tender in coming months.
Net Cost: These initiatives form part of our $2.3 billion State Roads commitments over the next four years.