Arthur Highway – Eaglehawk Neck Safety Upgrade | Parks & Wildlife Service Tasmania

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Arthur Highway – Eaglehawk Neck Safety Upgrade

Arthur Highway – Eaglehawk Neck Safety Upgrade Project

The Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) invited public submissions on the proposed Arthur Highway Upgrade for Eaglehawk Neck. The Department of State Growth (DSG) is proposing this upgrade which aims to increase road user safety, improve bus stop facilities, and provide a safe pedestrian crossing point at Old Jetty Road.

The Arthur Highway at Eaglehawk Neck has several identified risks, these include:

the existing carriageway width of approximately 5.6 metres is substandard for the current traffic volume;
the shoulders are unsealed, and there are no edge lines;
under the State Road Hierarchy, a road of this type, would expect to have a carriageway width of 8 metres, comprising 3-metre-wide traffic lanes and 1-metre-wide sealed shoulders;
the current pavement is near the end of its expected service life, with some defects present;
pedestrians are using the existing road.

To address these identified risks, the following works are proposed:

widening the road cross section to be 3-metre-wide traffic lanes with a new safety barrier on the western side of the highway;
increasing the shoulder width in both directions;
the construction of an off-road path 1.5 metre-wide along the eastern side of the highway (between Old Jetty Road and Blowhole Road);
improving the road surface;
providing improved turning facilities at Blowhole Road;
improving lighting;
upgrading existing bus stop facilities;
provision of a revetment wall along Eaglehawk Bay to allow for the widening and to protect the highway from coastal erosion.

The initial design for the highway upgrade raised significant concerns with the Aboriginal community. Following stakeholder consultation with Aboriginal community groups, DSG redesigned the highway upgrade to remove ground-disturbing activities in sensitive areas, particularly on the eastern side of the highway at Eaglehawk Neck. An independent Aboriginal Heritage Assessment Report was commissioned by DSG and has been reviewed by Aboriginal Heritage Tasmania (the report has not been published due to it containing sensitive information about Aboriginal heritage values).

The Arthur Highway at Eaglehawk Neck is surrounded by several reserves that are managed by the PWS – Eaglehawk Neck Historic Site, Eaglehawk Bay-Flinders Bay Conservation Area and Pirates Bay Nature Recreation Area. The main impact to reserved land is the proposed widening of the Arthur Highway into Eaglehawk Bay. The widening is restricted to the western side of the highway to avoid cultural heritage values on the eastern side of the highway. It will result in the loss of a section of beach and a small amount of vegetation. DSG has estimated that the total reserve area to be impacted is approximately 4800m².

Project Stages

		Stage 1 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and supporting documents accepted as suitable for public consultation.
		Stage 2 - Public consultation process advertised in three regional papers. Draft EIS and supporting documents available on the 'Have your say' page of PWS website.
		Stage 3 - The period for making public submissions closed.
		Stage 4 - Assessment of the advertised EIS completed and PWS prepares an Environmental Assessment Report (EAR).
		Stage 5 - EIS, EAR including statement of reasons and summary of public submissions published on the PWS website.