It’s the wrong end, say Birralee residents on highway upgrade decision

Sharon Webb

DEPUTY PM Michael McCormack launched northern Tasmania’s $55m freight corridor in January, at the Batman Highway end of the route.

The move has baffled many Birralee Road residents because they believe the road will not be in a safe enough condition to use while the proposed new prison is built on the Brushy Creek Reserve.

Torey Taylor, spokesperson for anti-prison Birralee residents concerned about the road, said Birralee Road’s surface is possibly in worse shape than the Batman/East Tamar sections of the freight corridor.

‘We can’t understand why that section is being worked on first when the government plans to build the prison on the Birralee Road section,’ she said.

‘If the entire corridor does not meet regulation width, then why have the plans for upgrade taken a decade to even commence? Shouldn’t safety have been put first, even before fancy new lanes on the Midland Highway?’

But anti-prison group WRAP believes the choice of the Batman Highway for the first roadworks reflects the significant slowdown already evident in the State Government’s prison plans.

Spokesperson Linda Poulton said it seems Birralee Road works have been relegated to 2022 or 2023, with the whole package to be complete in 2024.

‘We believe it likely they are being synchronised with the timeline for the construction of the prison. It would be foolhardy for the government to start changing Birralee Road now until it has a clear idea of what will happen with its prison plan,’ she said.

Mr McCormack announced that Tasmanian construction company Hazell Bros had started upgrading the Batman Highway between East Tamar Highway and the Batman Bridge.’

Ms Taylor scoffed at State transport minister Michael Ferguson’s comments in the Examiner that there are centre lines on that road but no lines on the sides of the road ‘because it’s not regulation width.’

‘Good to hear that Mr Ferguson has finally admitted that road sections designated a freight corridor for over a decade don’t meet safety standards and his government sat on its hands knowing full well something could have been done sooner,’ she said.

‘Residents are aware of at least one transport company that doesn’t use Birralee Road, because of safety concerns.’

Ms Taylor said the government had upgraded the East Tamar Highway thinking Gunn’s pulp mill was a done deal.

‘Yet they remain at planning stages on below standard Birralee Road where they are hoping to construct their own [prison] development? A decade of ongoing damage to Birralee Road’s surface condition, when the upgrades could have been fast tracked when they were needed in 2012.

‘Residents are furious that the government has done nothing while Birralee Road has deteriorated, with money wasted patching it up.

‘Upgrades won’t be completed in time to cope with extra traffic when the prison is being constructed. Residents raised these issues with the Justice Department but they fell on deaf ears.’

The freight corridor is jointly funded, with a Federal commitment of $44 million and the Tasmanian Government committing $11 million.