Jeremy Rockliff,Minister for Infrastructure
As part of the $1.43 billion Hobart City Deal, the Hodgman Liberal Government allocated $20.8 million to help reduce congestion being experienced in the Kingborough region.
This funding will complement our existing commitments to improve bus priority and traffic flow on the Southern Outlet, Macquarie and Davey Streets.
Yesterday, I met with Kingborough Mayor Dean Winter and senior Kingborough Council officers to progress this commitment and to discuss options for this investment.
We had a constructive and positive discussion about measures to combat congestion. We know that part of the congestion challenge is to increase the use of public transport and it must be an attractive and efficient option for commuters.
This has been reinforced in the recent work done by the RACT. Potential measures in Kingborough that we discussed to be progressed through the City Deal funding included:
- A contribution towards a redeveloped bus transit centre in central Kingston, a $3.5 million project, planning for which is underway.
- More Park and Ride facilities, including possibly at the Kingston Park development and other facilities in strategic locations across the Kingborough region;
- Better frequency or increased express bus services, to make public transport a more reliable option.
- Intelligent Transport Solutions (ITS) including smart bus transport hubs at key locations, which could possibly provide better real-time information for commuters.
I’m looking forward to progressing these options with the Mayor over the coming months.
We recognise the growing pressure on our roads, we have a clear plan for the short, medium and long term to address it, and we are working hard to deliver that plan step-by-step.
This includes new measures through the Hobart City Deal that will help to address congestion on Greater Hobart roads and provide new tools to better manage it, especially in the Kingborough area.
