The Tasmanian Government dropped a bombshell at this week’s estimates, announcing it would no longer build the promised safer paths on the Tasman Bridge.
The Premier and now Infrastructure Minister Jeremy Rockliff made the announcement at the start of the parliamentary estimates session on Monday 23 September.
Further engineering investigations have been undertaken which have shown that the “wind load” and additional weight of new paths would pose an unacceptable risk to the bridge’s foundations during extreme weather events. Considerable funding in the hundreds of millions of dollars would be needed to strengthen the foundations of the bridge and would be difficult to undertake.
Instead of the publicised 3.5m wide paths the government will now build taller outer and inner barriers, improve connections to the bridge on the eastern and western shores, build passing bays and potentially introduce a one-way system.
How did we get here?
The current paths are only as wide as a bicycle, there are gaps in the surface that can trap a wheel, the barrier between the traffic lane is too low and there are multiple catchpoints for handlebars.
The government announced funding for new paths at the June estimates session in 2019 when it set $14 million aside for the project with designs scheduled to be completed in November of that year. It was the first time it had outlined that the work identified in a 2016 Coroners Report to raise the height of the bridge’s outer barriers would include wider paths.
In 2020 a joint federal-state funding announcement of $130 million included bridge strengthening, higher outer barriers and 3.5metre-wide paths on both sides. Construction was due to start in 2022-23 and finish the following year.
In 2022 concept images showing a radical transformation of the bridge were released for public comment. These included the wider paths, a new ramp and new outer barrier. These images went through an extensive consultation process and construction was flagged to start at the end of 2023.
The project got caught up in the federal government’s infrastructure review in 2023 but came through the other side with its funding intact. News on the paths had gone cold this year with the latest public comment in January that the work would be tendered in 2025, with construction possibly starting in the same year.
Where to now?
Bicycle Network will work the government to ensure any changes to the bridge will improve safety for people riding and address the problems that have been evident for so many years.
The government has put an update on its website: www.transport.tas.gov.au/roadworks/current_projects/south_road_projects/tasman_bridge_pathways_upgrade