Three timber bridges in Myall Lakes will be replaced with stronger, sturdier and more resilient concrete bridges by the New South Wales Nationals under the State Government’s Fixing Country Bridges Program.
Nationals Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Sam Farraway, said more than $3 million will go to MidCoast Council to upgrade the ageing timber bridges.
“We are building what matters through the $500 million Fixing Country Bridges program – we’ve already rolled out funding for more than 452 bridges,” he said.
“These bridges will play a vital role in connecting rural and regional communities to markets, jobs and essential services such as schools and hospitals.
Farraway said the Government is focused on helping councils build bridges that are wider, higher and stronger which support greater load limits.
“Allowing greater volumes of freight will mean a boost for transport efficiencies and productivity in agriculture and other rural industries,” he said.
“We know many ageing timber bridges are susceptible to damage during natural disasters and extreme weather events, that’s why we are replacing them with modern materials that will make them more resilient and easier to maintain.”
Farraway said that bridges replaced under the program have withstood recent floods, and had they still been made of timber, they would likely have been badly damaged or destroyed.
Nationals Member for Myall Lakes, Steve Bromhead, said the announcement was a big win for the Myall Lakes electorate.
“Bridges keep our community connected, after the extreme weather we have experienced this year, it has become evident that we need to upgrade our infrastructure to be more resilient against mother nature,” he said.
“I’m very pleased that we will build stronger bridges that will keep our region safe in times of an emergency.”
More than $300 million was awarded to councils under Round 1 of the Fixing Country Bridges Program to replace more than 400 timber structures across 53 local government areas (LGA).
In July this year, a further $49.25 million was provided to replace 34 bridges across 21 LGAs.