RACT raise intersection concerns

The committee has identified the intersection of Hobart Road and Relbia Road, and the roundabout of Vale Street and Westbury Road as requiring urgent attention to prevent crashes and reduce unsafe conditions.

RACT community manager Will Oakley said RACT had initially sought funding for an upgrade to the Hobart Road and Relbia Road intersection in its RACT Black Spot Program submission two years ago.

“When both applications were unsuccessful, RACT approached the City of Launceston seeking action to improve safety at this increasingly busy intersection,” he said.

“The council indicated that no treatments are being considered for this intersection.

“The council’s reluctance to address this issue is concerning, given the significant amount of residential and tourism development that has been approved for the area in recent years.”

City of Launceston general manager Robert Dobrzynski said the injury crash statistics told a different story.

“The City of Launceston appreciates the RACT's stated commitment to road safety, but we also understand they've twice been unsuccessful in securing black spot funding for an upgrade of this intersection,” he said

"This is because crash statistics for this site are very low. In fact, no injury crashes have reported in the past five years.

"Put simply, there are higher priority areas for us to address, based on evidence, and not simply based on subjective opinion.

"The City of Launceston manages more than 850km of road network in Northern Tasmania, and we have our own Road Safety Advisory Committee to advise on how best to go about this.”

At the Westbury Road and Vale Street roundabout, the NRAC has reported concern regarding the number of parking bays near the entrance to the Prospect Vale Market Place shopping centre car park. Mr Oakley said NRAC considered that these vehicle parking bays were too close to the roundabout and presented a risk to vehicles and pedestrians.

“RACT has raised these road safety concerns with Prospect Vale Market Place management company Knight Frank but has been unable to motivate any action,” he said.