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The Arthur Highway (A9) is a highway which runs from Sorell in the near south to Port Arthur in the far south-east.
The first "proper" crossing of the Carlton River, near the line now followed by the highway, was opened in 1883. It consisted of multiple wooden bridges and causeways. Work commenced on a concrete bridge, a replacement for all three wooden bridges on a slightly altered alignment, in 1944.
The Denison Canal opened in 1905 with a wooden, manually operated swing bridge. This was replaced by an electrically operated bridge in 1965.
The highway used to end at traffic signals at a rather space-limited dogleg intersection with Tasman Highway and Station Lane in the centre of Sorell. The first stage of the Sorell Bypass opened in 2022, slightly extending Arthur Highway south toward Hobart just outside Sorell, avoiding the town. This allowed traffic to bypass Sorell instead of going right through the town on Tasman Highway or using Parsonage Place (to which was applied a 5-tonne limit, despite accompanying stop-gap improvements and a rename). There is a reserve towards William Street in which Tasman Highway will once bypass the town, but currently the traffic must still use the old Arthur Highway terminus to exit the town northwest.
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