Tasmania Golf Club fears it may have to close due to Tasman Highway upgrade near Hobart Airport

There are fears one of the options to upgrade the Tasman Highway near the Hobart Airport could force the closure of a local golf club.

ONE of Tasmania’s leading golf courses fears it may need to close if one of the proposed options to upgrade the Tasman Highway goes ahead.

The Tasmania Golf Club in Cambridge has urged the State Government to find a third option to improve the highway between the Hobart Airport roundabout and the Midway Point causeway.

While sympathetic to the need to reduce congestion along the stretch of road, a club spokesman said one of the two options would see a roundabout built in the middle of the 548m, par-5 16th hole.

The other option would see the highway and roundabout built on private property on the southern side of the existing road, which would affect native bushland believed to contain two of Tasmania’s endemic native orchids, both classified as critically endangered.

Tasmania Golf Club committee member Andrew Todd said golfers were in “shock”.

“Last Friday the consultant planners turned up at the club house and put up a display of the two options and left some feedback forms,” he said.

The two options proposed to upgrade the Tasman Highway to help reduce congestion between the Hobart Airport and Midway Point causeway.

Mr Todd said the roadworks would take up most of the 16th hole, a third of the dam, practice fairway and maintenance area, and “could really bring about the demise of the golf course”.

He said the club didn’t have a lot of extra land on the peninsula and had no money to develop extra holes.

“We don’t believe the solution should be at the expense of our beautiful golf course,” Mr Todd said.

“We don’t understand why there are only two options — there must be other transport solutions, such as overpasses and underpasses.

“It’s only a short piece of highway and would only succeed in moving the bottleneck further up the road.”

The project would increase the highway to two lanes in each direction between the airport and Midway Point causeway. The roundabout would provide access to Pittwater Rd, the golf club and Barilla Bay Oysters.

Mark Schulze hits out of a bunker during the men’s Australian Interstate Team’s tournament at Tasmania Golf Club last month. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

A spokesman said the State Government did not yet have a preferred option.

“The realignment of the Tasman Highway at this location is a key part of delivering better traffic flows sooner,” he said.

“Some concepts have been released for community feedback as part of a public consultation process.”

He said environmental surveys and other studies would be undertaken during the planning and development phases of the project.

Construction is expected to commence in 2020-21.

If the club was to close it would displace 600 members and result in the loss of 20 jobs.

The course is one of the top 100 in Australia, is visited by 10,000 people a year and hosted the men’s Australian Interstate Team’s tournament last month.

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