The government has released designs for a new shared path along the West Tamar Highway, extending from Tailrace Park to the Windsor Community Precinct.
The path would follow the eastern edge of the highway and would include 7 raised pedestrian crossings across side streets, but not across Cleghorn Avenue.
Raised crossings provide priority to path users and create a physical barrier in the road to slow down vehicles.
On-street parking for about 110 vehicles would be removed to make way for the path, with some parking retained in formalised bays.
The consultation documents do not specify the width of the path, but the use of previous parking space would allow it to be the standard 3m.
The project also includes new pedestrian crossings to get people across the highway at Brownfield Lane, Forest Road and Ecclestone Road.
The new crossings and path would provide a viable transport route for students to get to and from Riverside Primary School, St Anthony’s Primary School, Riverside High School and Launceston Christian School.
The West Tamar Highway experiences high traffic congestion around school drop-off and pick-up times and providing alternatives for students to get to school on their own is one way of reducing this.
It’s not clear from the design drawings how wide the shoulder on the highway would be for recreational road cycling.
Launceston Council is currently resurfacing 1.2km of the West Tamar Trail shared path from Tailrace Park into the city and widening it from 2.5m to 3m. This path, combined with the proposed path, could also create a more comfortable 6km journey into town for commuting workers or Launceston College and university students.
The state government has already built a new section of shared path further along the highway between Acropolis and Sunrise drives in Legana – after the proposed path is built it will leave a gap alongside the wetlands.
Both the West Tamar Council’s trails strategy and the Tasmanian Government’s highway corridor strategy identified the need for a good quality shared path between Legana and Launceston to give people the choice of riding, walking or scooting for transport.
Work on the new pedestrian crossings and shard path is schedule to being in mid 2026.