Funding pledge good for Launceston: Mayor

Published on 14 January 2018

Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten has welcomed the Liberal Party's pledge of $92.5 million for transport infrastructure across Northern Tasmania, if re-elected.

Mayor van Zetten said road infrastructure and traffic management was among the highest priorities for the Council.

"From the City of Launceston's perspective, any proposal that will improve our road infrastructure is extremely welcomed, particularly plans to help alleviate traffic congestion," Mayor van Zetten said.

"We have hundreds of millions of dollars in investment coming on line in Launceston over the next decade -- or sooner -- all of which will undoubtedly increase demand on our road infrastructure.

"So to learn that the Liberal Party has a plan that addresses many of those concerns is good news for our city."

Mayor van Zetten said the Liberals' plan to increase capacity across the Charles Street bridge is a high priority for Council.

"The Charles Street bridge has long been a choke point for traffic flow in and out of the city on the eastern side of the river," Mayor van Zetten said.

"And with the University of Tasmania's $260 million Inveresk Campus set to come online over the coming years, and the North Bank redevelopment set to open later in the year, we know that traffic in and around Invermay will only increase.

"Expanding the capacity of the Charles Street bridge, coupled with a redesign of the Invermay road network will certainly go a long way to addressing these issues."

Mayor van Zetten said he was particularly excited by the prospect of a second bridge across the Tamar River, linking the West Tamar Highway with the East Tamar.

The Liberals' plan caters for the planning, design, costing and stage one construction of a new Tamar River crossing at a proposed location between Newnham and the West Tamar Highway, north of Cormiston Road.

"The eastern traffic flow in and out of the city is already experiencing high. We know that the Goderich-Lindsay street intersection near Bunnings is at or near capacity. That fact has been recognised and solutions are slowly emerging," Mayor van Zetten said.

"However, a bridge that links the West Tamar Highway with the East Tamar would alleviate many of those issues, including congestion along the West Tamar from Legana and through Riverside -- two of Northern Tasmania's fastest growing areas."