Sorell Causeway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sorell Causeway is a causeway built across Pitt Water from Barilla Bay in the City of Clarence, Tasmania to Midway Point, and then from the other side of Midway Point across Orielton Lagoon to Sorell.
In colonial times, the Richmond Bridge had been the primary crossing point of the Coal River on the road from Hobart to Sorell and beyond to the Tasman Peninsula and Port Arthur.
It had been decided much earlier that if a crossing at Pitt Water could be made, it would considerably reduce the time to reach Sorell. The engineering was difficult, but with a ready supply of convict labour on hand, the causeway was constructed with main force. It was finally completed in 1872.
The Sorell Causeway is the second such convict-built causeway in the South-East of Tasmania, and is similar to the causeway section of the Bridgewater Bridge across the Derwent River.
In recent years it has undergone massive repairs and modifications. It has been decided that there needed to be a better flow of tidal water from Pitt Water and Orielton Lagoon into the open sea as the stagnation was causing outbreaks of Blue-Green Algae which was poisoning the other marine species there. As a result sluice conduits were cut into the lagoon, and a new pile system was created, to turn longer sections of the causeway into actual bridges.
Ever since its construction it has been a major route of access from Hobart to the east coast and Tasman Peninsula, and is now a section of the Tasman Highway.
 Road Infrastructure in Hobart - List of Tasmanian Highways |
|
|---|---|
| Highways | Brooker Highway | Channel Highway | Domain Highway | East Derwent Highway | South Arm Highway | Southern Outlet | Tasman Highway |
| Bridges | Bowen Bridge | Bridgewater Bridge | Sorell Causeway | Tasman Bridge |
| Major Roads | Davey Street | Derwent Park Road | Elizabeth Street | Goodwood Road | Lampton Avenue | Macquarie Street | Main Road | New Town Road |
| Operators | Clarence City Council | Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources | Glenorchy City Council | Hobart City Council |
| Transport in Hobart | Hobart International Airport | Metro |
