So much for thrill of open road

THE kunanyi/Mt Wellington cable car Editorial (Mercury, January 7) prompted me to take another look at the road. Mid afternoon on New Year’s Eve I rode my motorcycle to the top — 50 years on motorbikes and 30 on various road safety committees gives you an eye for road problems. The road is dangerous.

Traffic was bumper to bumper. Bicycles, my motorbike, cars, campers and buses crawled up. Some drivers were obviously not used to hired vehicles nor mountain roads. Faced with a big bus coming down, a Queensland SUV put two wheels in the deep gutter on the mountain side of the road. The driver had trouble getting out. Progress was slow. At the summit more than a dozen vehicles queued for a park. There is no motorcycle parking so you have to take a full car bay if you want to stop. I decided not.

The road and summit carpark are at capacity. The road must be made safer. The carpark will have to be bigger to cater for more tourists in hire cars and more buses. Serious roadworks are inevitable. Building a safer road means months, years, of disruption. The road is a continuous barrier to wildlife now. It needs wildlife/bicycle/ pedestrian bridges, which will add to construction times. Cable car towers will be no prettier but less visible than the ICBM sticking out of the mountain now. Overhead, cable cars may not look natural but are quieter and less polluting than cars.

If it was up to me, Tassie would stay as it is, but that’s not going to happen. Population and tourism will increase. The only option is to keep kunanyi/Mt Wellington as natural and safe as possible. Isn’t a cable car better and safer than a road and carpark?

Damien Codognotto Howrah