Mornington Area Road Improvement program
The Mornington Area Road Improvements program will be made up of four projects in the Mornington area that will improve travel times and road safety for all users.
In 2020, the Sorell to Hobart Corridor Plan recognised that the Mornington Interchange and roundabout formed a bottleneck along the Tasman Highway. Following this, the Mornington Traffic Solution Study (2021-24) was completed to explore potential solutions that would help address the issues along this corridor.
The Mornington Traffic Solution Study included a traffic study, community consultation and an assessment of how upgrade options could improve safety and travel times in the area. We found four priority projects that will make up the overall program of improvements for the Mornington area.
The program will improve travel time reliability, deliver more effective and efficient movement of people and goods, and improve safety for all road users, including providing better options for people to walk, wheel or ride.
We are replacing the existing Mornington Roundabout with traffic signals to improve traffic flow through the area. We considered several options including an overpass, but it was decided that traffic lights were the best option, as they support increasing traffic volumes, impact nearby properties less, and provide better options for people to walk, wheel or ride.
Stakeholder and community consultation for the Mornington Traffic Solution Study was held over a two-week period from Monday, 11 October 2021 to Sunday, 24 October 2021.
Engagement activities included:
The objective of the consultation was to gather information and ideas from a broad range of key stakeholders and community. The feedback received helped identify the four priority upgrade projects.
You can view the Mornington Traffic Solution Study Consultation and Feedback Summary Report here: Read the Consultation Summary Report (August 2022).
The improvements program will happen in stages, with the first stage being the Gordon’s Hill Road Interchange project. Once finished, we will continue with the other projects near the Mornington Roundabout. We will work out the best order to build these projects as we work through the designs and consult with the community.
Construction for the Gordon’s Hill Road Interchange project is planned for late 2026. Community consultation and design work will begin in 2025 and include:
Completing this project first will reduce traffic on the Mornington Roundabout and the surrounding roads while we deliver the remaining projects. It will also provide traffic on the Tasman Highway a more direct access to Rosny Park and Bellerive.
The program will be delivered in stages to minimise the impacts of construction on all road users. The Gordons Hill Road ramps will be built first to allow cars better access to Rosny from the highway and reduce the number of cars on the roads around the Mornington Roundabout. Once finished, we will continue with other improvements near the Mornington Roundabout. If we were to deliver all four projects at once, there would be extensive delays across the Mornington and Rosny area. This would then affect the whole Hobart road network.
The Gordons Hill Road Interchange is being prioritised because:
The Gordons Hill Road Interchange will be the first project to begin. Community consultation and design work will begin in 2025, with construction expected in late 2026.
We are replacing the existing Mornington roundabout with traffic signals to improve traffic flow through the area. We considered several options including an overpass, but it was decided that traffic lights were the best option, as they impact nearby properties less and allow us to provide better options for people to walk, wheel, or ride. The timing of the traffic lights can also be adjusted to improve traffic flow depending on the time of day and traffic conditions.
While the option of an overpass was explored, it would have large impacts on the surrounding community and would be significantly more expensive.
Consultation showed that the community wants to see improvements to make the area safer for people walking, riding, wheeling and catching buses. We will improve crossing points to make it safer for active transport users and bus patrons to travel through the area.
By replacing the roundabout with traffic signals, there will be new, safe crossing options for people walking, wheeling, and riding.
We will start planning and designing the remaining three projects in 2025. Construction of the Gordons Hill Road Interchange will be the first to start, with construction expected in late 2026.
The Australian and Tasmanian governments have committed a total of $100 million to make improvements in this area.
If you would like to find out more information and you have accessibility requirements, please contact the project team (details below) or email morningtonarearoadimprovements@stategrowth.tas.gov.au
You can find out more about Transport Services' commitment to accessibility on our website here: https://www.transport.tas.gov.au/accessibility
If you have any questions, feedback or concerns, please contact our Stakeholder and community Engagement Consultant David Gladwin on 03 8668 3697 .
You can also contact the project team at morningtonarearoadimprovements@stategrowth.tas.gov.au