The Highways in Tasmania generally expand from Hobart and other major cities with secondary roads interconnecting the highways to each other. Functions of these highways include freight, personal travel and tourism.
The AusLink Network currently consists of the Midland, Bass, Brooker, East Tamar Highway and the southern section of the Tasman Highway (Hobart-Hobart Airport).
Tasmanian highway naming is straightforward. Most are generally named after the geographical regions and features, cities, towns and settlements along the way.
Brooker HighwayExcluding the old National Highway (Brooker, Midland, Bass), Tasmanian routes have been marked with the alphanumeric marking scheme since 1979, based on the marking scheme implemented in the United Kingdom in 1922.[1] Prior to this Tasmanian roads were marked with a National and State Route Numbering System.
Highways are a part of Tasmania's road network, which covers a distance of approximately 24,000 kilometres (15,000 mi). As well as major highways between cities and ports, urban connectors between suburbs and commercial areas, residential streets, and forestry roads are also included. The most important state and regional connections, totalling 3,650 kilometres (2,270 mi), are state-owned roads, which are further classified into a road hierarchy.[2]: 3–4 The herirachy consists of:
- Trunk roads – major highways which are the "primary freight and passenger roads"[2]: 4–5
- Regional freight roads – regional roads which connect heavy freight to the trunk roads[2]: 4, 6
- Regional access roads – providing access to Tasmania’s Regions, with less traffic than trunk and regional freight roads[2]: 4, 7
- Feeder roads – connect population centres and tourist traffic to and from the rest of the state road network[2]: 4, 8
- Other roads – lower traffic roads, primarily providing access to private properties[2]: 4, 9
