The upgrade of the Sideling road - the stretch of the Tasman Highway between Launceston and Scottsdale - is scheduled to be completed by 2026.
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In Senate Estimates on Monday, it was revealed the federal government plans to spend the bulk of the $40 million it has committed to the $50 million project between 2023 and 2025.
It has budgeted $250,000 on the project this financial year, $1 million in 2020-21, $6.5 million in 2021-22, $7 million in 2022-23, $10 million in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, and $5.25 million in 2025-26.
Bass MHA Bridget Archer said the Sideling upgrade was "a significant and complex infrastructure project to which all involved are committed to getting right".
"The state government and the Dorset Council are working through the plans for the Sideling," she said. "Federal funding will be forthcoming once plans are finalised."
Tasmanian senators Helen Polley and Carol Brown released a joint statement saying the project should be completed sooner.
"Scott Morrison is a salesman," senator Brown said.
"He's great at making announcements but when it comes to actually delivering results we repeatedly see cost blow-outs and delays with projects off on the never never."
Mrs Archer said, "It is worth noting that Labor's commitment to the Sideling during the last election campaign was half of that committed to by the Morrison government."
The upgrade will see the notoriously twisty road brought to a standard acceptable for B-Double trucks, which Dorset mayor Greg Howard says will improve land values, the agricultural industry, and tourism.
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