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A notoriously windy stretch of road in Tasmania could be upgraded with pricing revealed to be as high as $2.7 billion to re-route the road.
St Marys Pass is a notorious stretch of road that connects Launceston and Hobart to the east coast of the state. A report assessed seven options to improve St Marys Pass, with solutions costing up to $2.7 billion.
The critical arterial road connects Tasmania's east coast to Hobart and Launceston, and was closed for months in 2022 after a major landslip. For three months in late 2022, a critical road between towns on Tasmania's east coast was closed after a major landslip. The closure of St Marys Pass between the Tasman Highway and Esk Highway significantly affected nearby communities. It affected emergency service access, the delivery of essential goods and tourism during the sector's peak period.
A new report from Building Tasmania has revealed costings and community feedback on seven proposed options to improve the notorious road. St Marys Pass winds tightly through 6 kilometres of Tasmanian hinterland. But, built almost 200 years ago by convicts, the government has acknowledged the narrow road no longer safely caters for modern traffic. The department investigated maintaining the current road, maintaining and upgrading it, and five alternative alignments.
In its newly released assessment, Building Tasmania said the project faced major cost hurdles and significant engineering challenges.
"The assessment does not identify a single solution that fully resolves the challenges associated with St Marys Pass," it reads. "This section of the road has a long history of slope instability including landslides, rockfalls and tree falls, which has resulted in frequent road works to keep the pass open to traffic. " Seven options have been costed by Building Tasmania, with the red option estimated to cost almost $3 billion.
The report from Building Tasmania outlined community feedback on the seven proposed options, with concerns raised over the future of St Marys if a new route bypassed the town. Community members also suggested retaining the existing route for use as a bicycle and walking track, if an alternative road was built. An option known as the 'blue route', which would re-route the Pass along an existing TasNetworks power line north of the current road, received the most positive community response.
The estimated cost for that option is $1 billion. Building Tasmania favoured the blue route because it was the "shortest and straightest route", was already cleared of vegetation, and wouldn't force closure of the existing Pass during construction.
However, the summary report found the 'purple' option to maintain and upgrade the existing route over 10 years achieved the "strongest overall outcome", when factoring in cost, community support and deliverability. It is also the cheapest upgrade option, at approximately $50–70 million, and received the second-highest level of public support.
"The assessment does indicate that a program of targeted upgrades to the existing road provides the best balance between resilience, affordability, community acceptance, constructability, and environmental impact," the report reads. "The purple route provides the best balance of cost, deliverability, environmental outcomes and community support. " The TasNetworks power line route, or 'blue route', received the most positive feedback from the public consultation sessions.
The federal government has committed $10 million to the project so far, but more funding will be required to move it forward. Break O'Day Mayor Mick Tucker said implementing a long-term solution for St Marys Pass was urgent, with the constant patch up jobs over the years a waste of time and money.
"If we were to stop doing all that and put all the money into one project, it'll pay for itself over time," he said. He said the road was "absolutely essential" in connecting major Tasmanian centres Hobart and Launceston to the east coast.
"Not much use promoting them if you can't get to them. " He said while he was glad to see the state government looking at the issue, it needed to be matched by action. "But when are we actually going to do something to help alleviate the problems that St Marys Pass continually faces? "State Infrastructure Minister Kerry Vincent supported the report's findings and did not favour the two options costed at $1 billion and $2.7 billion.
" is a phenomenal amount of money when we've got an existing road there that can be done up much cheaper," he said. Kerry Vincent believes the existing road should be upgraded, rather than a new one built.
Infrastructure Boulders Landslip St Marys Pass Bicheno East Coast Tasmania St Helens Roads Closed Tourism Tasmania Break O Day Mick Tucker Emergency Services Road Closure Fire And Flood
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