History

In 1964, a comprehensive transport study of Hobart was undertaken, calling for the construction of a freeway to serve Hobart's growing eastern suburbs.^[3] Prior to opening of the Tasman Bridge in 1964 traffic travelling between Hobart and the airport had to make use of the Hobart Bridge as well as Rosny Hill Road and Cambridge Road. Passing through the Meehan Range, this route was windy and entirely two-lane featuring at-grade intersections. The first section of the new Highway between Rosny Hill Road and Mornington opened in 1974 as it exists today and continued to the airport as three lanes in its current alignment.^[4] During the 1990s, the section of highway between Mornington and the airport was fully duplicated with funds from the federal government. In 2002, the Pitt Water bridge was replaced with a new bridge built beside the existing structure with the causeway widened. In 2012, Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources progressively installed variable speed limit signage between the airport and Hobart, citing the increased crashed rate on the road due to traffic and weather on the Meehan Range.^[5][6][7]

Future

The Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources has outlined several concepts for the upgrading of the Eastern Outlet portion of the Tasman Highway - Both short and long term. These include;

• An upgrade of the highway at Montagu Bay, involving the addition of extra lanes and On/Off ramps between the East Derwent Highway and Rosny Hill Road, to provide safer passage of traffic travelling between these two Roads^[8]
• The upgrading of the Holyman Avenue Roundabout into the airport at Cambridge.^[9]
• The addition of On/Off Ramps at Gordons Hill Road at Rosny.^[10][11]
• The State government recently purchased land at Cambridge on the northern boundary of Hobart Airport to facilitate the future duplication of the Tasman Highway to Sorell.

Additionally, independent bodies and proponents of the Highway have also made proposals of their own, including:

• Building the Highway to limited access, dual carriageway standard between the Airport and Sorell.^[12]
• Capacity upgrades between the Hobart city centre and the Mornington interchange.^[13]

Route

The southern section of the Highway commences on the fringe of the Hobart Central Business District at the intersection with the Brooker Highway and the Davey/Macquarie couplet. Featuring between four and five lanes of traffic and utilizing a lane management system for peak hour traffic, the highway travels north along the western shore of the Derwent River, intersecting with the Domain Highway before preceding over the Tasman Bridge. On the eastern side of the Bridge there are two interchanges in close proximity; the East Derwent Highway intersects the highway immediately after the bridge via the Lindisfarne Interchange and within 500 metres there is an interchange connecting Rosny Hill Road. From Rosny Hill Road the Tasman Highway continues east as a fully grade separated, Limited access highway intersecting with the South Arm Highway at Mornington and concluding at the airport roundabout. For the remaining 4 km (2.5 mi) from the Airport the highway features 2 lanes of traffic, and travels over Mcgees Bridge and the Sorell Causeway to Sorell.