$723,000 for Dicks Creek Road Bridge

COUNCIL: Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has announced $723,000 in funding for Yass Valley Council under Round Two of the Government’s Bridges Renewal Program.

“I’m pleased to share the outstanding news Dicks Creek Road Bridge at Nanima near Murrumbateman will be replaced with a two lane concrete bridge as a result of the latest round of funding under the Bridges Renewal Program,” Mr Taylor said.

“This is a terrific outcome for residents along the Dicks Creek Road, a number of whom have been in contact with my office with concerns about freight limits, traffic flow and safety concerns during periods of flooding.”

Hume MP Angus Taylor

Construction of the bridge is estimated to cost $1.4m and take 12 months to complete.

This has intensified concerns from some local residents who fear the 40km detour will impact on response times for emergency services and the Rural Fire Service, especially during peak fire season.

The November council meeting heard the detour could also impact adversely on the viability of businesses in the area, including the Majestic Mushroom Farm that receives significant volumes of ‘live’ medium each week delivered in B-doubles. This product is very sensitive to temperature, and delays such as a four-hour detour coming from Gunning, would make the product useless.

Council instigated plans for five bridge by-passes during 2015 to help residents affected by load limits placed on a number of older decaying timber bridges across the LGA.

“Council has 18 timber road bridges across Yass Valley, the majority of which are more than 70 years old,” said Director of Engineering, Gary Chapman.

“These bridges where constructed generally from locally sourced timber and designed to carry loads and traffic volumes significantly lower than today’s requirements.

“Due to time, weathering and increased use these bridges have deteriorated to a point where load limits have had to be installed to safeguard the community.”

Wee Jasper Bridge. FILE PHOTO: Tripadvisor

In 2014 Council engaged an external bridge consultant to inspect and advise safe carrying capacity. Sixteen of the 18 bridges needed to be replaced or re-built, with bridge load limits required in the immediate short term.

“In undertaking this action Council was aware that bridge load limits will impact road users and the properties that utilise the bridge. However the safety of road users is at the forefront of our decision,” said Mr Chapman.

“We apologise to residents and road users for any inconvenience caused by these load limits but we cannot put people’s lives at risk.

“Ultimately Council’s priority is to replace all 16 of the ageing bridges across Yass Valley, however this would cost in excess of $6M and is financially impossible in the short term.”

Since resolving to implement bridge load limits Council has undertaken remedial work on two bridges to remove the need for a load limit and is currently replacing the Gums Lane bridge.

A new low level heavy vehicle crossing has been installed adjacent to one bridge and a further five such crossings were programmed to be completed before Christmas 2015.

At the November 2015 Council meeting councillors resolved to investigate an additional low level heavy vehicle crossing for Dicks Creek Road in early 2016 and in the meantime, allow heavy fire vehicles to use the timber bridge at low speed in the event of an emergency.