Southern beaches riders have had a win in the recently released Arthur Highway strategy, with a shared path to be built between Lewisham Road and Sorell.
Both the southern beaches and Sorell have seen increases in population but no infrastructure to easily get between the two areas other than by car.
The Arthur Highway Corridor Strategy was released this month to guide planning and expenditure on the road from Sorell to Port Arthur in coming years.
The public consultation in early 2023 uncovered dissatisfaction with the lack of active and public transport infrastructure and services along the corridor.
There was also recognition that the lack of wider, sealed shoulders affected tourism and recreational cycling opportunities along the corridor and was also dangerous for drivers.
As such, the strategy is recommending the government:
- provides consistent sealed shoulders to provide space for cyclists
- provides separate active transport infrastructure in target locations where demand is higher, while optimising use of available funds and land
- considers targeted speed limit reduction within townships
- increases frequency of speed limit enforcement within townships
The shared path did not make it into the high priority group of projects but was rated a medium priority, so is on the drawing board for the coming years.
Another project that was deemed medium priority was a shared path between Nubeena and White Beach. This was a project promised by the Liberal Party at the last state election and has already been funded by the Australian Government’s Active Transport Fund.
Recommendations about speed limits and enforcement were also rated medium priority.
Widening and sealing shoulders doesn’t seem to have made it to the priority list.
The Tasmanian Government has allocated $50 million to implement the corridor strategy, with almost all the high priority actions being improvements to the traffic lanes.
www.transport.tas.gov.au/roadworks/road_improvement_plans/arthur_highway_road_improvement_strategy
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