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FACT SHEET
Roads and Jetties Amendment (Validation) Bill 2019
Part IV A of the Roads and Jetties Act was inserted into the Act in 1957 to allow for certain roads
to be declared as limited access roads. It was introduced in an effort to reduce degradation of
highways from multiple access points which required the construction of new sections of highways
to maintain safety and efficiency. It is an important tool in the protection of new sections of road.
The effect of a declaration of limited access is twofold. Firstly, it facilitates the road user’s right to
safe and reasonable unrestricted travel and, secondly, it acknowledges the abutting landowner’s
right to be given reasonable access to their property by providing compensation for any loss of
that common law right of access. Any agreed private access to a declared limited access road is
issued with a conditional licence; conditional in that the licence includes the land the access serves,
the location and use of the access, together with other applicable conditions. Such a licence may
be issued as full or partial compensation. There are provisions in the Act that allow for a variation
to the conditions of a licence, providing that such a variation of use will not have an adverse effect
on the declared limited access road.
The original 1957 provisions did not allow for a licence to be issued to a subsequent owner unless
the licence specified that it could, however this had the potential to effectively leave land without
any legal access to a road.
Access control assists in protecting the safety and functionality, and hence the economic viability,
of the State’s key roads. A proliferation of frontage access, and their use, to arterial roads can
rapidly degrade a road’s safety, service, and efficiency. The high cost of road construction requires
that proper measures be taken to protect the community asset from premature obsolescence
and the public from danger. This asset represents an enormous State investment.
Access control assists with the reduction of road crashes. The uncontrolled spread of direct
access to any major arterial roads from abutting properties is a prime cause of crashes due to the
turning movement conflicts that arise. In urban areas this relates to the high volumes of through
traffic and the interference caused by access movements. On rural roads, the crashes occurring
at access points are usually more severe due to the high speed of passing traffic.
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A number of highways have been realigned as a result of lack of access control. Early examples
are seen between Latrobe and Burnie, Claremont and Granton, and in many other places. Later
examples include the Midland Highway between Bridgewater and Pontville and the Tasman
Highway between Hobart and Cambridge. Those newer roads declared limited access have not
suffered from these effects because of the statutory access controls and they, therefore, operate
as efficient traffic routes.
Primarily, limited access was applied to new alignments of roads. Early examples are the Muddy
Creek deviation on the West Tamar Highway and the East Tamar Highway from Mount Direction
to Bell Bay; later examples include the Bass Highway between Launceston and Deloraine, Penguin
and Howth, etc. With the advent of Commonwealth involvement with National highways,
however, the situation changed dramatically, with long stretches of the existing Midland Highway
and Bass Highway being declared limited access roads in accordance with the issued guidelines
for construction of those National highways.
This amendment Bill is required to ensure the validity of licences issued to permit legal access to
declared limited access roads.
Initially, the Minister was empowered to issue licences in full or partial satisfaction of any claim for
compensation only to existing owners at the time of a declaration of limited access. This
restriction meant that the Minister was legally prevented from issuing a licence to a new owner.
The Act required amendment to allow for normal land ownership changes and was amended in
1994.
It has become apparent that, unless the Act is further amended, the current situation with respect
to licences means that an existing or new owner may not hold or have a valid licence; one that
permits legal access to their property from a limited access road. This relates to licences issued
prior to the 1994 amendment and to those licences issued subsequent to that amendment as
reissues of licences that had been issued prior to the amendment. The Act does not recognise
any licence other than those issued on roads declared limited access after the coming into effect
of the 1994 amendment.
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