Huon Highway upgrade panned by users, Labor

The second draft of a multimillion-dollar road project to fix a spaghetti junction has failed to win over road users – after the first attempt was shelved due to negative feedback. SEE THE COMMENTS >>

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LABOR has questioned whether a multimillion-dollar upgrade to the Huon Highway is actually going to fix safety problems at a black-spot intersection.

The state and federal governments have earmarked $7 million for upgrades to the highway at Sandfly and have released a revised design for public comment.

But it’s a love-it or lose-it proposition.

Diagram of proposed intersection upgrade of Huon Highway and Sandfly Rd.

“If the new design is not supported by the community, the intersection will remain in its current form and the safety upgrade will not proceed,” State Roads says on its feedback page.

The first plan for the upgrade was shelved after negative feedback. The upgrade will be the second at the intersection in the last five years.

Reaction to the new plan has also been lukewarm.

Among the comments so far during the consultation period:

• “If you can’t afford a first class solution to this dangerous intersection then do nothing until you can.
• “It still has a number of the same hazards as the design that was put forward last year.
• “This is an absolutely shocking design. It’s confusing, it’s cluttered. Do not waste taxpayers money putting this in!
• “The island system makes the layout very confusing for those wishing to cross the highway from Sandfly to Longley and vice versa.”

Many respondents suggested a flyover be considered instead, similar to that at the Summerleas Rd section at Kingston – which cost $22 million.

Local Labor MP David O’Byrne said the proposed upgrade was “a lot of money for a marginal improvement”.

“We’re concerned at spending millions of dollars on a design that doesn’t necessarily improve either the safety or the management of traffic in that intersection,” he said.

“There are still many questions regarding merging, crossing, lane management and speed limits.”

Mr O’Byrne said he wondered how many times the design was going be redesigned.

“There's no doubt it’s confusing — it’s almost like an intersection by committee, there’s a number of questions around the merging and turning aspects of the design.

“There’s two hairpin turning areas, how do large vehicles deal with those?”

A government spokeswoman said consultation was part of the process to pick up any issues with the design.

David O'Byrne MP said there is a number of questions around the proposed intersection. Picture: Chris Kidd

“A grade-separated solution similar to the nearby Summerleas Rd intersection is not a viable alternative in this location due to topography, cost estimates, and the impact to local residents and businesses,” she said.

“If the new design is not supported by the community, the intersection will remain in its current form and the safety upgrade will not proceed.

“As usual, David O’Byrne and the party he wants to lead has nothing but criticism and no real solutions to offer.

“Meanwhile, the government has been getting on with the job of taking on board community feedback, fully redesigning the project and securing the extra funding needed to build the improved design.”

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