The Brooker Highway is a highway in the State of Tasmania, Australia. As one of Hobart's 3 major radials, the highway connects traffic from the Hobart city centre with the northern suburbs and is the major road connection to the cities and towns of Northern Tasmania. With an AADT of 48,000, the highway is one of the busiest in Tasmania. The Brooker Highway has recently been declared part of the National Highway. The Brooker Highway runs approximately north from the CBD, through the northern suburbs of Hobart, and through the City of Glenorchy, bypassing commercial and industrial centres along the original Main Road. It is primarily a four lane (dual-carriageway) highway, and apart from the Domain Highway junction, only the northern sections of the highway have grade separated junctions. The remainder of the junctions are regulated by traffic light and roundabout intersections. While the highway is substantially less congested than in other states during peak hours, it is more congested off-peak than roads in Queensland, Western Australia, and almost as congested as those in New South Wales. It is thus a busy road by any Australian standard. The Brooker Highway is currently below the acceptable levels of service and congestion issues are expected to worsen significantly over the next 20 years with the Highway already approaching its designed capacity. A current proposal to convert the Southern Railway Line for use as a Light rail system has the potential to alleviate the Brooker Highway's traffic problems. History The first stage of the Brooker Avenue was constructed as a dual carriageway four-lane road in 1954 between Risdon Road, New Town, and Elwick Road, Glenorchy. The north-bound and south-bound roads were divided by a wide median strip with trees planted at intervals. At various points the median strip was dissected by a short roadway to enable traffic to U-turn to the opposite direction. In 1957 work began on extending the road into Hobart city. This work dissected part of the former racecourse grounds at Cornelian Bay, and the obliteration of Batman Place which was the location of huts built for affordable housing. The road was built on an embankment which crossed the Main Line Railway and Bellevue Parade via a concrete bridge. The road skirted around the edge of the Queens Domain to an area known as Cleary's Gates. At the intersection with the Domain Highway, a grade-separated intersection was completed which is