The Hodgman Liberal Government is committed to ensuring Tasmania’s future infrastructure needs are met and we will continue to invest strategically in important projects that benefit the Tasmanian community.
The Government has today endorsed a report from Infrastructure Tasmania to seek funding from the Federal Government for a new four-lane Bridgewater Bridge.
This will be the most important single transport infrastructure project in the state since the Tasman Bridge was built in the 1960s.
The current Bridgewater Bridge was built in the 1940s and requires replacement as it places height, mass and width restrictions on vehicles traveling on the Midland Highway, which is Tasmania’s key north-south road link and most important road freight corridor.
The current bridge sees an average of 18,500 vehicles per day, bottle-necks traffic to two lanes, and the lifting mechanism is wearing and subject to breakdown.
The new bridge will support at least 200 jobs during construction and once built will enable pedestrian and cyclist facilities. Rail access will be maintained via the existing bridge.
The new bridge will be sited downriver of the existing bridge, on land already identified as suitable.
More than $100 million was made available for a new Bridgewater Bridge in the 2004 Federal Budget (80 percent of the estimated cost at the time) but the Labor State Government later decided it was no longer a priority. Bryan Green, who was Minister for Infrastructure between 2004 and 2006 abandoned the project, instead using the money set aside for other road projects in a pork-barrel ahead of the 2006 state election.
The new Bridgewater Bridge would be built and operational now, if not for Mr Green's foolish actions.
The proposed new design is estimated to cost about $535 million, representing a saving of more than $200 million over the most recent designs without compromising either the number of lanes, or clearance height (16 metres).
Funding for the bridge will be sought through the next five-year round of the Federal Government’s Infrastructure Investment Program. If successful, work on the project is anticipated to start in 2019-20.