Dynnyrne residents question Southern Outlet proposal as they fight back to save their homes

Government pushes ahead with plan to demolish Dynnyrne houses for a bus lane while many Southern Outlet buses travel almost empty writes Dr Simon Wright.

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RESIDENTS of Dynnyrne Rd were shocked by a pre-election announcement that their community would be bulldozed for a bus lane on the Southern Outlet. Superficially it sounds like a good idea — bus lanes are good, right? But not if you actually think it through. The government’s own documents show it is unnecessary and will actually increase traffic unless they can somehow get drivers out of cars and into buses. Also, it is financially risky for the state.

Furthermore, the government could fix traffic congestion tomorrow if they had the gumption to do now what will always be necessary — to change commuter behaviour.

The fifth lane proposal was a desperate 2018 pre-election promise from Rene Hidding. No traffic modelling has been released. It’s now a political necessity for Liberals, even if it makes no sense.

The plan will throw 18 families at once into the Hobart housing chaos. The news has shattered the residents, causing stress and anxiety, with children in tears. Where is there alternative housing? Residents whose houses aren’t demolished will be subjected to construction noise for over a year.

There is a significant financial risk to the state: $51m of the $70m City Deal is slated for roadworks on the Outlet and Macquarie St, much of which involves earthworks through dolerite on a steep slope. Given the potential for major cost blowouts, what other funding will government have to draw on to complete the project?

We could understand if it was part of a considered plan. But it is contrary to the government’s own Hobart Transport Vision (2018) which states, “Evidence has proven that more roads and wider roads result in more cars and worse congestion”. Still the government plans to widen the Outlet and turn Macquarie St into a highway through the city, isolating all the businesses alongside. Has the Hobart Transport Vision been officially abandoned?

As any driver would know, the Southern Outlet is not the problem — it’s Macquarie St, as clearly stated in the Hobart Congestion Traffic Analysis (2016). The peak traffic in Macquarie St is 3500 cars per hour, from all sources (upper Macquarie, Regent, side streets), and the Outlet can easily accommodate 3400 cars per hour alone (Hobart Western Bypass Feasibility Study, 2020). The problem is mainly peak hour commuters. Traffic normally flows well. Macquarie St can’t be widened — the only solution is to reduce the car numbers.

Near-empty Southern Outlet bus. Picture: Simon Wright. One-time use

The obvious strategy is to induce commuters to take the bus instead. The Hobart Transport Vision says, “Increasing the proportion of the population using public transport will reduce traffic congestion across the entire road network”.

There is abundant bus capacity now, if only people would use it. Residents surveyed the morning peak traffic on the Outlet, and in one hour counted 1140 cars (almost all single occupant), 390 light commercial/trade vehicles, 81 trucks, and 32 buses, which were mostly empty. With an average capacity of 60 passengers, those buses could accommodate 1920 passengers, more than all car occupants.

But people won’t use buses because cars are more convenient, more flexible, and part of the culture. Several letters to the Mercury have made this point. And this is the rub: even after building a bus lane, cars will still be preferred unless buses are made cheaper and more convenient than car travel.

Commuter behaviour can be changed using carrots and sticks: free bus travel, improved services, bus shelters, advertising, coupled with increased rates for allday parking, congestion tax, stopping parking in residential streets. Former premier Will Hodgman ruled out sticks and they have provided no carrots, so we still have traffic chaos.

Without such change, the fifth lane will be a futile and expensive white elephant. The city will remain congested, with insufficient parking, shops cut off by difficult access, with the constant threat of gridlock.

If implemented now, those measures would immediately reduce traffic, the city would open up for shoppers and tourists, fossil fuel use and pollution would fall, $51m would be freed for other traffic problems and no-one need lose their house.

This is a dinosaur response to a modern challenge. We suggest the government tries implementing its own Hobart Transport Vision before wasting money on white elephant infrastructure while making whole streets homeless.

Dr Simon Wright is spokesman for SONAR (Southern Outlet Noise-Affected Residents). Meg Smith is spokesperson for SOS (Southern Outlet Solutions) Hobart.

Fifth lane the wrong solution, say residents

Annie McCann

MICHAEL and Ruth Hanlon moved to Dynnyrne Rd two years ago and have since invested about $100,000 into personalising what they thought would be their forever home.

“We ripped out all the trees that were past their use-by, planted roses and fruit trees, flowers, herbs, vegetables and potatoes,” Mr Hanlon said.

Michael and Ruth Hanlon, of Dynnyrne, have joined a group fighting to save their houses from being destroyed for a fifth lane on the Southern Outlet. Picture: Alastair Bett

The pair are among residents from 19 houses bordering the Southern Outlet who have formed an action group to speak out against a “dinosaur” plan to replace their homes with a fifth transit lane.

Affected resident Meg Smith has established social media pages and named the group SOS Hobart 2021 – “SOS” standing for “Southern Outlet smart, savvy, sustainable Solutions”.

Meg Smith, of Dynnyrne, also faces the prospect of losing her homenie.

The residents were rattled to open their letterboxes on March 25 and find letters from the Department of State Growth and highway expansion engineers pitt&sherry saying their houses could be compulsorily acquired to make way for a northbound bus, T3 and emergency transit lane between Olinda Grove and Macquarie St.

“It is important that we arrange a time to discuss the proposal and consider your feedback,” the letter from Hobart Transport Vision project director Christian Goninon read.

“We want to assure you that no final decisions have been made regarding the level or extent of impacts to adjacent properties, including potential acquisitions.

“As an owner of an adjacent property, we would like to offer (you) the opportunity to discuss the project, so you can view the proposed concept design and provide us with your feedback.”

Dynnyrne Road, Dynnyrne.

Mr Hanlon said the workshop and additions he painstakingly built would be lost along with the home.

“Every time we move there’s a personal cost, emotional cost and mental health cost – you can’t quantify it,” he said.

Commuters regularly find themselves ground to a halt on the Southern Outlet after a crash. Picture: DAVID KILLICK

He believed the move would do little to help the housing crisis or traffic issues, with Mr and Mrs Hanlon’s price range now only suited to properties north of Glenorchy, far from Mrs Hanlon’s Taroona workplace.

“The blockage is at Davey St and Macquarie St, how is a bus lane going to alleviate that?” Mr Hanlon said.

Kingston and the Southern Outlet looking north.

His doubts were mirrored by a nearby anonymous neighbour who has lived at Dynnyrne Rd since 1986.

“The problem is not with the Southern Outlet, I sit here day after day and watch it,” he said.

“The problem starts at Davey St across to Macquarie St. They made a mistake when they put the right turn to get across to Macquarie St at the same intersection as the Southern Outlet.”

South-bound traffic banked up on the Southern Outlet approaching Mt Nelson after multiple car crashes. Picture: THOMAS YOUNG

The resident was dismayed he had rung to request a one-on-one meeting with the engineers but still hadn’t heard back 10 days later.

“It reinforces what I think about the state government’s public consultation,” he said.

Construction for the $35m project is predicted to begin in late 2022.

More information is at transport.tas.gov.au/southernprojects