A TROUBLE-PRONE intersection at Kings Meadows could be improved if the council adopts proposed dramatic changes to Hobart Road.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Launceston City Council's road safety advisory committee has recommended directional lane changes along the main road at the Hobart-Riseley Street intersection to ease southbound traffic during peak evening times.
The committee wants to switch around one of the northbound lanes on Hobart Road after the intersection for travel in the opposite direction, using federal Black-Spot Program funding.
It also wants to upgrade the intersection's traffic lights to clearly indicate right-hand and left-hand turns.
Committee chairman Jim Cox described the intersection as one of the city's worst.
Alderman Cox said evening southbound traffic would quite often be banked up hundreds of metres to the Six Ways intersection.
``We are hopeful that this plan will alleviate some congestion,'' Alderman Cox said.
Deputy chairman Robin McKendrick said the committee considered it important that a southbound, right-hand turning lane was maintained on Hobart Road for the benefit of all businesses along the right-hand side of Hobart Road up to the Meadow Mews shopping centre.
``This will be a reasonable change at a reasonable cost to get a reasonable outcome,'' he said.
A 2012 traffic study found there had been an average of five traffic accidents at the intersection between 2007 and 2011.
The council's road safety committee is made up of council and Infrastructure Department representatives and a cross-section of road users, including police, emergency services, motorcyclist and cyclist representatives.
Launceston City Council general manager Robert Dobrzynski said the committee had been established to work with council officers to get the best from council investment in traffic management projects and safety initiatives.
``Ultimate decisions on these matters are made by the aldermen sitting collectively as the council, but significant importance is placed on the recommendations from the advisory committee,'' he said.
Alderman Cox said that if the changes were adopted, it was hoped that work on the intersection would start before Christmas.
