Work on the rest of the long-awaited Tasman Highway upgrade could get underway this year, the state government says, but only if it clears a federal hurdle first.
Infrastructure Minister Kerry Vincent said construction between the Hobart Airport interchange and the Midway Point causeway is “expected to start” in 2025, but warned it’s still “subject to securing key legislative approvals”.
The conditional timeline comes after several years of delays on the project, which has been stalled by complex federal environmental requirements under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Speaking in parliament last month, Vincent called the delay “frustrating” and confirmed the state is still waiting on federal sign-off for plans that were resubmitted in December.
As for duplicating the Midway Point causeway and building a second McGees Bridge, the timeline is even less certain.
Vincent, in a statement this week, said “the start time for the build is unclear” but said the government was “working hard towards starting this work at the end of the year”.
That too depends entirely on approvals from Canberra, which are yet to be received.
The project has been hampered by environmental requirements since 2022, forcing a redesign of the road alignment and triggering another round of submissions to federal authorities.
Vincent said the updated plans should “minimise the impacts to the environment and adjacent landowners”, but acknowledged that construction cannot proceed without federal sign-off.
Once complete, the highway between Hobart Airport and Sorell will be two lanes in each direction and include various sections of new shared walking and cycling paths.
