Will vow for traffic in fast lane

A FIFTH lane on the Southern Outlet is among plans the Liberal Party says will help bust traffic congestion in Hobart.

Premier Will Hodgman unveiled his party’s “Hobart traffic vision” yesterday.

In addition to an underground bus mall costed at more than $100 million as revealed in the Mercury yesterday, the plan includes a Derwent ferry service and a government takeover of traffic management in Davey and Macquarie streets.

Mr Hidding said the new Bus Transit Centre would complement a range of other traffic solutions designed to reduce congestion in Hobart and surrounding suburbs.

“We will also invest $35 million to construct an express fifth lane on the Southern Outlet to ease congestion for those commuting from Kingborough to Hobart,” he said.

“The new lane will operate northbound for morning traffic and southbound in the afternoon peak and will potentially shave up to 15 minutes off the trip each day for commuters, meaning less time on the road and more time for Kingborough residents to spend at home with their families.”

Mr Hidding said the bus mall project was subject to negotiation and funding arrangements with the Commonwealth and he was hopeful construction would begin within the next term of government

The Liberals also promised a Traffic Incident Response Team to respond to resolve peak-hour incidents quickly.

Labor’s planning spokeswoman Madeleine Ogilvie said the Liberal plan lacked detail.

“The Liberals are merely trying to sell a pretty picture,” she said. “They’ve promised an underground transit centre in the next four years without any detail on how it will be built or paid for.

“Our plan for a major review of statewide planning lays the foundation for fresh thinking on getting rid of gridlock.

“Over the last four years they haven’t even managed to move the sewerage works at Macquarie Point, do they really want Hobart residents to believe a complete state-ofthe-art underground transit centre will be delivered in the next four years?”