Only tunnels will fix Hobart’s traffic-jam woes

We must dig deep to solve Hobart’s traffic woes, writes Madeleine Ogilvie

WEare swamped with traffic and people are furious. It is time to stop fiddling around the edges.

The best solution to Hobart’s traffic woes is a major infrastructure project to build bypass tunnels and fully upgrade our roads.

Our beautiful workable city where we could get three primary school kids dropped off, run some errands, get to work, then do the whole thing again in reverse in the afternoon, no longer exists.

There is nothing better than a clear run, though nowadays that’s a rare event. More often than not, now I seem to spend hours jammed in traffic between school, after-school sports, work and the supermarket.

Davey Street, Lynton Avenue, Churchill Avenue, Regent Street, Sandy Bay Road and the Southern Outlet are a disaster for anyone trying to do the school run or get to work on time. If one small thing goes wrong between the Brooker and the bridge, the whole city grinds to a halt.

It affects everyone, it affects our economy, it affects small business, it affects our stress levels.

We have the fundamental problem that all traffic from all suburbs is funnelled into the twin arterials of Macquarie and Davey streets. A fifth lane on the Southern Outlet won’t fix that problem. The City Deal non-solution has fallen flat.

Frustration is at an all time peak and people are demanding action.

It is time for major infrastructure works that include tunnels to overcome the congestion choke points.

Buses and park-and-rides are great, but we also need to get real. Cars are not going away. The data shows us that for good reason car transport is here to stay and growing each year.

Let’s inject some data into this debate. The Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us that at the 2016 Census the number of houses with one car was 38 per cent, and those with two or more vehicles was 53 per cent.

Interestingly, though public transport buses account for only 3.5 per cent of Hobart’s total motorised passenger task, of the 11 comparable urban areas in Australia with populations ranging from 150,000 to 600,000, the 2016 Census shows that, for the journey to work, Hobart had the lowest rate of car use and the third highest use of public transport.

Hobart has mirrored other post-industrial cities with its low-density residential development, massive growth in women’s employment, and widespread car ownership and use.

As our population has increased, there are more people working and, importantly, more women with dependent children like me are working. My car gives me freedom to combine work and home duties with family responsibilities. My work trips and non-city trips are distributed in time and geography — I have to be efficient to get it all done.

And like it or not, cars are good for business. Car use enables employers to select employees from a wider field, not just from the pool of people who live nearby.

Drivers come from other places to visit restaurants, shops, movies and hairdressers.

The continuing growth of Kingborough, combined with the fantastic increase in female employment and almost universal car ownership, ensures traffic will only increase.

Recently I spent a few days in Brisbane using the tunnel network. Gee, it’s a joy compared with the grind that is local traffic. But be prepared, tunnels don’t come cheap or quick.

It is time to get real and start seriously planning for the Western Bypass, which includes a tunnel under Davey Street and Macquarie Street.

Naturally people will also want to talk about light rail to Kingston and Blackmans Bay, another bridge over the Derwent, or even imagine a sub-Derwent tunnel, and we must get separated cycleways.

In the not-too-distant future, electric vehicles will be the norm and our future roads system must cater for that.

But first, let’s get an EOI process kicked off and hear from the local, national and international road constructors about what could be imagined.

There is not a moment to waste.