Question & Answer – Huon Highway – Leslie Road Intersection Safety

April 14, 2026

Ms WEBB question to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE and TRANSPORT, Mr VINCENT

Tuesday, 14 April 2026

[2.53 p.m.]

My question relates to a local matter of interest to the community, members of my electorate, which is the safety of the Leslie Road intersection with the Huon Highway. Minister, in correspondence of February this year to the Leslie Vale Community Group and the Friends of Longley Area Group, you stated the Department of State Growth would:

soon be engaging a consultant to design an improved Huon Highway-Leslie Road intersection.

You indicated that the project will investigate current concerns and analyse options to progress design development. My question is: in light of your dissolution of State Growth that is soon to happen, can you confirm whether the consultant has been engaged with this project and if not, the time frame by which we should expect that to occur? Can you guarantee that the Huon Highway-Leslie Road intersection project will proceed as a priority despite the new flagged changes to the departmental structures? What’s the expected time frame for any remedial works to be undertaken?

ANSWER

Mr President, I will just seek some advice on the first part of that question. I will seek some clarification on a design consultant, but I know the design work has been happening within the department. There have been quite a few backwards and forwards about the changes. Some people wish it to be the same as the P-Turns further down the road. We’re very conscious of the possible upgrade of the licence with Hazel’s quarry there and the increased number of trucks that will come out and need to accelerate out of there, as well as coming back down the other side. I did initiate that we would come back and talk to the local group down there as well as the Leslie Vale woodyard there and Hazel’s into the design. Because of the nature of the acceleration lane, I understand there’s a little bit more design work in the spaces needed for slow down and acceleration there as well as turning into the left.

At this point, there is no contract with the designer team, but with the new side of Building Tasmania, nothing changes. Hopefully, we’ll be more efficient as we work through that over the next six months to make those things happen. That is still a priority for the whole corridor down there. Thank you.

Ms WEBB – Just to follow up, was that six-month time frame we’re expecting work to commence or to have the project under way?

Mr VINCENT – Sorry, I was referring to the time Building Tasmania comes in on the 1 July. Everything still progresses as normal and we will continue after that point. We do not have a timeline of when that work will commence until the design works done. That goes to December.

Ms WEBB – Thank you.