The Tasmanian Government has engaged with the four Greater Hobart Councils to plan for and deliver reduced congestion on Hobart streets, and I was pleased today to host the third summit with the Councils to reduce congestion.
Having already implemented a number of short-term solutions to ease congestion, the Government will now progress overseeing a number of long-term measures to alleviate congestion in Hobart’s CBD.
To that end, I am pleased to announce the Department of State Growth has recently completed the development of a greater Hobart traffic model, bringing together a number of independent models developed by the various road owners.
This model, fed with the most up-to-date information on travel and urban growth patterns, will allow the analysis of future traffic demands, identify congestion hot spots years before they occur, and assist with the development of both infrastructure and non-infrastructure solutions to proactively manage those demands.
The Government will now progress measures to further alleviate the congestion in Hobart’s CBD ahead of several construction projects commencing, including the construction of a large hotel at the Elizabeth St Bus Mall.
Importantly, the Government will support measures that favour public transport including bus priority measures but it is clear that the Councils will also need to commit to congestion-busting measures that we outlined today.
Some of the specific measures agreed for consideration today by the Hobart City Council include:
• Transformation of some or all of the buses from the current Bus Mall to Franklin Square (this may require some temporary relocation of motor cycle parking);
• Investigation of a pedestrian overpass or underpass linking Franklin Square to the water front;
• Further investigation of the safe removal of the pedestrian crossing on the southern side of the intersection of Murray Street and Davey Street, including improvements to the northern crossing location, to improve peak hour bus movements. Alternatively, if the crossing cannot be safely removed, then alternative arrangements that provide improved bus priority will be pursued;
• Investigation and implementation, if feasible, of alterations to the management of the Macquarie Street / Molle Street intersection to improve safety and active transport linkages from South Hobart along the Hobart Rivulet track;
• 25m parking restrictions on the right side of Davey Street upstream of the Southern Outlet, and;
• Clearway along the left side of the Macquarie Street approach to Evans Street.
Following today’s final congestion summit, the Department of State Growth will now work closely with the Councils to deliver on these plans. Tasmanians can rest assured the Hodgman Government is getting on with the leadership job of resolving these congestion issues.
Rene Hidding, Minister for Infrastructure
