Wellington Park Management Trust annual report reveals mountain vehicle numbers

Seven of the busiest days on record for vehicles travelling up kunanyi/Mount Wellington occurred in the last financial year. kunanyi’s traffic for 2023:

The number of vehicles travelling up kunanyi/Mount Wellington has increased significantly over the past decade, a new report has revealed. Picture: Chris Kidd

The number of vehicles travelling up kunanyi/Mount Wellington has skyrocketed by 85 per cent over the past decade and seven of the busiest days on record occurred in the last financial year, new analysis has shown.

The revelation comes as the state government reviews the management of the mountain, which the Greens have claimed is a stalking horse for the resurrection of the failed cable car proposal.

The Hobart City Council began collecting road traffic data from lower Pinnacle Rd in 2014 and the Wellington Park Management Trust started analysing the information this year.

The number of vehicles travelling up kunanyi/Mount Wellington has increased significantly over the past decade, a new report has revealed.

According to the Trust’s 2023-24 annual report, released on Tuesday, vehicle numbers on the mountain have experienced year on year growth between 1-21 per cent since 2014 (with the exception of 2020, due to the pandemic).

“The Trust is now able to generate consistent and regular reports on the number of vehicles entering the park via Pinnacle Rd, which gives a strong indication of overall visitation patterns and trends,” the report said.

In terms of individual vehicle movements, 137,400 drove up the mountain in 2014, before increasing significantly to 213,118 in 2019, prior to Covid.

While just 109,651 vehicles took to the mountain in 2020, the numbers began to shoot up in the subsequent years, hitting 173,772 in 2021, 210,187 in 2022, and 221,752 in 2023.

The Trust extrapolated data for June 2024 to obtain an annual figure of 254,125 vehicles for this year.

Weekends and public holidays see up to double the traffic experienced on weekdays, while the highest daily traffic counts frequently correspond with natural events, such as heavy snowfall or aurora australis.

The number of vehicles travelling up kunanyi/Mount Wellington has increased significantly over the past decade, a new report has revealed. Picture: Linda Higginson

In fact, the aurora event on the evening of May 11 this year saw an “unprecedented peak” in overnight traffic on Pinnacle Rd, making that day the eighth busiest since records began.

The most hectic day on record came on September 26, 2021, following heavy snowfall, while the busiest 24-hour period in the 2023-24 financial year was January 5, when 1512 vehicles went up the mountain.

The Trust said the majority of vehicles using Pinnacle Rd were exceeding the 50km/h speed limit in both directions but “even more so” in the southbound lane.

“The largest violations of the posted speed limit [occur] between 11pm – 4am (65-70km/h), and are less extreme during daylight hours (generally 55-60km/h),” the report said.