Council tees off in traffic fix fight

ONE of Tasmania’s top golf courses has found an ally in its fight to stop a new roundabout going through its 16th hole.

Clarence City Council has resolved not to support any loss of land at the Tasmania Golf Club from widening of the Tasman Highway and installing a roundabout between the Hobart Airport interchange and Midway Point.

Clarence Mayor Doug Chipman said the council would seek further information from the Department of State Growth on its proposals to combat traffic congestion on the stretch of highway.

“Council does not support any solution that would see the Tasmania Golf Club lose any land and has requested a briefing from department officers,” Alderman Chipman said.

The Tasmania Golf Club has previously said it feared it may need to close if the option to build the roundabout on its land was chosen.

The other option on the table would see the highway and roundabout built on private property opposite the golf course, which would affect native bushland believed to contain two of Tasmania’s endemic native orchids, both classified as critically endangered.

Councillor Tony Mulder said the current State Government proposals would only shift traffic down the road.

“Expediting traffic flow through Midway Point and the airport turn-off only ‘kicksthe-can’ down the road, extending the morning crawl from Mornington out to Cambridge,” he said.

Cr Mulder said not all Tasman Bridge traffic needed to go into the city and a link from Lauderdale to the Bowen Bridge would relieve congestion both at the eastern end of the bridge and at Clearys Gate where the Lower Domain Rd meets Brooker Ave.

jack.paynter@news.com.au