The Hobart City Council will seek a briefing from the state’s infrastructure minister on the condition of the Tasman Bridge after a councillor claimed the structure was “pretty close to falling over”.
The call for clarity came during Monday night’s debate on an unrelated infrastructure motion, when Councillor Ryan Posselt was pressed to explain comments he made in April about the decades-old bridge.
Alderman Marti Zucco questioned why council attention was elsewhere when, according to Posselt, Hobart’s most important transport link could be in serious trouble.
“I thought the importance was that we had a bridge that was falling down and that would have been the priority,” Zucco said.
Posselt made his original remarks on April 9 during a planning meeting focused on the Macquarie Point stadium. At the time, he said the bridge was “absolutely at the end of its life”.
“Essentially the Tasman Bridge is pretty close to falling over and we have not heard boo from the state government or the opposition about the most critical piece of transport infrastructure in this state,” he said.
“But here we are talking about $1.8 billion on a stadium when in fact we probably need a $1 billion bridge in the near future. And good luck if you build the stadium and the bridge falls over and no one can get there.”
Councillor Louise Elliott on Monday said the claim was “news to a lot of people” and prompted her to investigate.
“Given that it was such a big and bold claim, I did ask the [council] officers if they could find anything at all to support the claim that the bridge is absolutely at the end of its life and that it’s pretty close to falling over,” she said.
“Officers, despite their concerted efforts, they haven’t been able to find any reports or correspondence that substantiates that claim.”
Posselt then clarified his comments were not meant to be taken literally, with Councillor John Kelly questioning whether he had the engineering qualifications to make such assessments.
“Yes, I did make those remarks … in the context of a planning application for a planning document for the stadium. I referenced the need to future plan for the Tasman Bridge,” Posselt said.
“In that context, I referenced that the bridge was close to falling over in the figurative manner of speaking, thinking that … considering that it took 20 years from go to woe for the Bridgewater Bridge.”
Built in the 1960s, the Tasman Bridge remains Greater Hobart’s most vital transport artery, carrying thousands of vehicles daily between the city and the eastern shore.
The structure was partially rebuilt in 1977 after the Lake Illawarra cargo ship struck it, causing a section to collapse and killing 12 people.
The state government last year pulled the plug on major shared pathway additions to the bridge after engineering investigations revealed they would require significant modifications to the bridge’s structure.
