Hobart bypass road linking the Huon Valley and Derwent Valley back on the radar

A SEALED road linking the Huon and Derwent valleys is back on the agenda with planned upgrades to a rough track behind Mount Wellington.

Huon Valley Commissioner Adriana Taylor and Derwent Valley Mayor Martyn Evans are excited about improving access between the two valleys by upgrading Jefferys Track. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

A SEALED road linking the Huon and Derwent valleys is back on the agenda with planned upgrades to a rough track behind Mount Wellington.

A three-stage plan to improve Jefferys Track, a four-wheel drive road between Lachlan and Mountain River, is set to begin after meetings between the Huon and Derwent Valley councils and other key stakeholders.

The first stage is to repair the track to the standard that it can be used as a permanent fire trail, followed by an investigation into sealing the road. The third stage would be to build the road with the help of federal funding.

Huon Valley Commissioner Adriana Taylor said the initial upgrade would cost $93,000, which she hoped the State Government would provide to get the work done sooner rather than later.

“If it’s needed as a fire trail, it can’t be used at the moment by fire vehicles, it’s just impassible,” Ms Taylor said.

“By next summer we want to have that as a fire trail.

“Bushfires happen in Tasmania, we can’t avoid that ... so we really need to protect ourselves as much as we can.”

However, Ms Taylor said the councils would not be relying solely on state funding.

“Both councils actually think that that road needs upgrading, so if we have to contribute something towards that then I think both councils will seriously look at that,” she said.

Jefferys Track has been fixed before in 2009 and 2013.

Stage two is to convince the State Government to fund a feasibility study into establishing the track as a sealed link road between the valleys.

If it is deemed feasible, the road would likely require federal funding.

Jefferys Track has been speculated about as a potential link between the two regions for more than a century.

It is just 28km from the Derwent Valley to Huon Valley council chambers via the track.

Three years ago, the Derwent Valley Council investigated the possibility of sealing the gravel Plenty Valley Link Rd, which goes west of New Norfolk and links to Huonville at Judbury, but it was deemed unfeasible at an estimated cost of $30 million.

Derwent Valley Mayor Martyn Evans believes a sealed road would create opportunities for employment, tourism, social benefits and connectivity between the two regions.

He says it would also reduce traffic on the busy Macquarie and Davey streets in Hobart, and is keen for the State Government to support the feasibility study.

“If it comes back feasible ... [it would] create tourism demand in both of those regions so they can link together and people can visit not only one unique place but two unique places,” Cr Evans said.

“At the moment with people that are time-poor, it’s hard to go to both valleys and they seem to go to one or the other.”

Ms Taylor met local residents to discuss the implications of upgrades and said the feedback was “mixed” at last week’s meeting.

“The residents are quite keen to have that road made safe, [but] they are a bit concerned about increasing traffic along the road,” she said.