Kyogle Council has been building bridges forever – 89 bridges have been replaced in three years and 81 new bridges have been built.
Kyogle mayor Kylie Webster said that equates to almost three new bridges built every month.
Ms Webster said it was a “truly amazing effort” especially considering the work council staff have done to recover from the 2022 flood disaster.
“Back in 2020 before we started our bridge renewal program, council had four bridges closed due to structural failures, 25 load limited bridges and 125 timber bridges, of which more than 70 were 70 plus years old,” she said.
The completion of the new Suffolks Bridge on Bean Creek Road this week means the council has finished 77 bridges it committed to build under Round 1 of the Fixing Country Bridges program.
However, the job’s not over yet.
The council has funding to replace another 16 bridges including Montgomerys Bridge and The Risk Road Bridge, and when all those bridges are finished, the council will have no more aging timber bridges to replace.
The council received more than $40million through the State Government’s Fixing Country Bridges Program to part fund the replacement of 77 of the bridges (which included eight bridge-to-culvert projects) plus a multi-million-dollar funding package from the Federal Government to build other 12 new bridges.
The council also employed local contractors to design and construct another six bridges under the Fixing Country Bridges Program. Four of the six bridges have been completed so far.
The information in this report was provided by Kyogle Council.
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