A contract has been awarded for the multi-million-dollar upgrade of the West Tamar Highway near Brady's Lookout.

The Minister for Infrastructure, David O'Byrne, said today that the $9 million project, part of the State Government's $90 million Community Roads Program, will help make the West Tamar Highway safer.

"The West Tamar Highway project is another example of the $90 million Community Roads Program delivering safer roads and connecting local communities across Tasmania," said Mr O'Byrne.

Work will get under way in October and is scheduled for completion by mid-2013.

The contract for the work has been awarded to local Tasmanian company, Andrew Walter Constructions.

"The work will include widening the road to provide room for the installation of a flexible safety barrier separating the northbound and southbound lanes," he said.

"Breaks in the flexible safety barrier and right-turn treatments will be provided at two locations - access to Brady's Lookout and the Brady's Lookout Road junction.

"Local residents will have safe right-turn access to and from their properties using U-turn points."

Mr O'Byrne said that the aim of the project was to improve safety by preventing head-on crashes and reducing the severity of loss-of-control crashes.

"The use of flexible safety barrier has the ability to achieve up to a 90% reduction in serious road trauma caused by head-on and run-off-road crashes.

"This section of the West Tamar Highway carries about 5500 vehicles a day, including commuters, tourist traffic on the Wine Route and heavy vehicles, and has a significantly higher crash rate than other sections of the highway.

"This latest project will bring the Government's total investment in the West Tamar Highway to about $29 million over a 10-year period," Mr O'Byrne said.