It has been just a week shy of a year since a Launceston alderman first called for urgent changes to connectors on the East Tamar Highway.
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On May 6, 2016 City of Launceston alderman Robin McKendrick labelled the Newnham and Mowbray link connectors “disastrous”.
Alderman McKendrick called for the state government to install roundabouts at the link connectors.
At the time, he cited data that showed there were more than 20 crashes at the connectors between 2004 and 2014.
In The Examiner this week, Alderman McKendrick has renewed those calls in the wake of another crash on the same section of highway, this time at the Mowbray connector.
He said he still held hope that the state budget, due to be delivered on May 25, would hold funding to fix the link connectors.
“I’ve been talking to people to try and make sure that it’s still a priority,” Alderman McKendrick said.
Infrastructure Minister Rene Hidding would not comment on whether the budget would contain funding for the fix, but said the state government was committed to “improving the safety and flow of traffic in and around Launceston’s northern suburbs”.
This week The Examiner conducted a quick survey online surrounding upgrades to the East Tamar Highway link connectors.
At the time of writing, more than 1100 people had responded, and 72 per cent of them believe the highway section needs multiple roundabouts.
Some voted for sets of traffic lights to be installed.
Our Facebook readers even suggested improvements like overpasses, and a much talked about bridge to connect the east and west sides of the Tamar.
The Northern approach to Launceston is becoming more arduous, especially in “peak” hours – anyone who travels the road can attest to this.
Safety and traffic flow need to be addressed, earlier rather than later.
While one cannot directly compare the recent roadworks at the Kings Meadows Hobart-Oppossum roads intersection with the calls for upgrades to the highway (because they fall under different ownership – one the City of Launceston council, the other the state government), one can still ask which the community and road users would see as a priority to fix.