Bowraville’s Lanes Bridge is to be replaced by a new concrete bridge at an estimated cost of $2.7million.
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Nambucca Shire councillors voted in favour of the massive project at their meeting on Thursday.
The new bridge be 1.75m higher, improving flood immunity from an average of 16 closures a year to approximately one.
And a new horizontal alignment 6.51m parallel upstream of the existing bridge alignment means a single lane of traffic will remain open on the existing bridge for much of the construction, thus minimising disruption to the community.
In his report to the council, Assistant General Manager - Engineering Services, Paul Gallagher, wrote the existing timber bridge was over 90 years old with no major rehabilitation for 26 years.
He highlighted the replacement was one of the most expensive bridges on the council’s list and that funding had already been sought.
“Council has since signed a funding agreement confirming $1million of Federal funding (matched by Council through loan funds on a dollar for dollar basis) and anticipated additional funding of $500,000 from the State Government under the ‘Bridge Timber Replacement’ program was announced in December by the Minister, however the funding agreement has not yet been provided to Council,” Mr Gallagher noted.
The choice of the design with a horizontal alignment of the new bridge situated 6.51m upstream and parallel of the existing bridge alignment also helps reduce the cost as less work is required on the approaches.
He said minor disruptions to traffic would be necessary during key phases in the building process, such as craning in large beams.
“The extent of these disruptions will be highly dependent on the final design of the bridge, which cannot be conducted until the layout of the bridge is determined.
It should be noted that temporary bridge closures are inevitable, regardless of the geometry of the new bridge.”
Mr Gallagher said there were significant social implications to residents and industry should the road be closed during a possible seven month construction period.
Tallowood Steiner School advised 70 per cent of staff and students would be affected, with many having their travel times extended by more than one hour and in some cases, two hours, daily.
The General Manager, Michael Coulter, said the council could either go to tender for the job or use the expertise of its own bridge crew.
“In the absence of a detailed labour budget the assessment is that Council should support the provision of bridge replacement work by its bridge crew,” Mr Coulter said.
“This will ensure their skills remain current and industry best practice. A further consideration is that the Council is regularly exposed to natural disasters and having in-house expertise will assist in the community’s recovery from these disasters.”
He said the bridge was the largest civil works project ever undertaken by the council’s day labour and as such would certainly challenge the staff in terms of meeting the project timeline and budget.
“It is not conventional management, but the opportunity to challenge staff by accepting some additional risk is supported as a way of strengthening the capacity of the organisation.”
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