Final plans released for New Bridgewater Bridge – November 2022

The final plans for the new Bridgewater Bridge have been released after three years of design development and community consultation.

From today, the public can choose to view the plans for the bridge and interchanges, which will fix the missing link in Tasmania’s National Highway, in person or online.

Once complete, the project will remove the notorious bottlenecks at each end of the bridge, providing the 22,000 vehicles that use the bridge each day with free-flowing access to the Brooker Highway, Lyell Highway and Midland Highway.

Following the announcement of McConnell Dowell as the preferred tenderer late last year, the construction contractor has spent 2022 undertaking design-specific site investigations and planning to inform their final plans.

Community consultation and feedback from local residents, businesses, commuters, councils and interest groups has helped shape the final plans for the new four lane bridge, with feedback considered to ensure the project will meet the needs of the community now and into the future.

Based on this feedback, the new bridge will include free-flowing access from the Brooker Highway to the Lyell Highway, a direct connection from Bridgewater onto the new bridge and a roundabout at the bottom of Old Main Road in Bridgewater to improve bus access through the area.

A new roundabout will connect to the Black Snake Road underpass with a dedicated slip lane allowing traffic from the Lyell Highway to follow uninterrupted onto the Brooker Highway and a three-metre-wide shared path will ensure cyclists and pedestrians can cross safely.

Work is already well underway on-site including vegetation removal and clearing, land reclamation work on the northern and southern shores and preparation for the construction of a temporary bridge to assist in the construction of the main bridge

Construction will support around 830 jobs including the creation of more than 200 new jobs for locals, delivering an important boost to the local economy.

As work on the project ramps up over coming months drivers are asked to plan their journey when travelling through the area, follow the posted speed limit and obey the instructions of traffic controllers.

The new bridge is on track to be open to traffic by the end of 2024, with the project to be completed in mid-2025.

The final plans for the new bridge and interchanges can be viewed at the project’s Community Display Centre at 28-40 Old Main Road, Bridgewater between 9.00am and 5.00pm each weekday until Friday, 16 December 2022.

Click here to view the designs