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Battery Point Walkway will become an iconic Hobart riding route
Battery Point Walkway back on

Hobart City Council has announced $6.8 million set aside in the capital works budget to re-start the Battery Point Walkway project.

The Walkway will connect Sandy Bay and the Salamanca activity district around the Battery Point Foreshore with an attractive, flat and direct boardwalk for riding and walking.

Hobart Alderman Jeff Briscoe, who first proposed the Walkway in 2002, is expected to submit a motion at the 13 November city planning committee meeting.

The Walkway had started to gain real traction in 2013 until it was stridently opposed by residents of the exclusive waterfront suburb of Battery Point, particularly from those living in Clarke Avenue and Napoleon Street as the path would run past their back yards.

It was then rejected by the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal in 2015.

The new money will fund re-design, development and building of the Walkway, which has the potential to become an iconic feature of Hobart, attracting visitors and locals to the area.

The Hobart Mercury has reported that the Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey stated earlier this year that “It was the council’s firm belief that a Battery Point Walkway was something most people in the city wanted.”

Read the Mercury report.  

The Hobart City Council spent years creating the painted bike lanes on Sandy Bay Road.

Without the Battery Point Walkway these lanes end at Marieville Esplanade leaving commuters to battle traffic or take the quieter but hillier and winding route through Battery Point.

With the significant improvement it promises for the Hobart riding network, the Battery Point Walkway is an on-going campaign for Bicycle Network.  

The Walkway will provide an easy route for the increasing number of students who travel between the University of Tasmania’s Sandy Bay campus and the new developments in the CBD.

A high-quality, attractive connection also offers increased visitation to Sandy Bay from the Salamanca activity district.

As a significant connection, it continues the InterCity Cycleway to the Sandy Bay Road bike lanes for a quality riding route stretching from Glenorchy to Taroona.

The Mercury has come in behind the Walkway in an editorial:

“There is no doubt a walkway along the river at Battery Point would be a huge attraction for locals and tourists.

"The short sections of walkway already along the Derwent are extremely popular and share a wonderful sense of family and fun.

"They help us commune with, and enjoy, Hobart’s incredibly beautiful landscape. They unite us.”

Read the Mercury 30 October editorial.