Cost Of Repairing Old Bridges Stretching Us Thin, Say Councils

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday November 21, 2005

Wendy Frew

Thousands of wooden bridges criss-crossing the state's rivers and creeks and connecting small communities with the outside world are in need of serious repair, but councils cannot afford to fix or replace them all.

Responsibility for maintaining bridges on local roads fell to local government, but it was "incredibly expensive" and state and federal governments should help finance repairs, said the president of the Local Government Association, Genia McCaffery.

"We are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars per council," she said.

The problem is so serious that a conference was held last month to explore cost-effective ways of rebuilding or replacing small bridges built decades ago that now carry more traffic than they were designed for.

The NSW Department of Local Government says there are 7692 bridges under local government control, 2427 of them built of timber.

Regional councils in the north of the state carry the heaviest burdens, with Kyogle Council responsible for 245 small wooden bridges and Nambucca Shire Council looking after 150.

Facing millions of dollars in repairs, Nambucca could only afford to replace three or four a year, said its director of operations and technical services, Bruce Redman. "We do the best we can but it is a big issue."

The cost of replacing a small, 12-metre single-span wooden bridge was about $75,000. Fora larger bridge the cost wasup to $2 million.

From next year the Roads and Traffic Authority is considering splitting the cost of bridge maintenance on regional roads with councils. But that could drain council funds for bridges on local roads, Mr Redmansaid. The problems are compounded for councils who face heritage issues.

In the shire of Cessnock, residents are fighting to save a historic timber bridge in the village of Millfield. It is the longest of seven bridges from an original 27 erected on the 240-kilometre, convict-built Great North Road that runs from Sydney to Wollombi.

The Roads and Traffic Authority built a new concrete bridge in 2003 and now wants to demolish the old one, although it has offered to hand it over to locals. The council estimates it would cost several million dollars to restore.