Barker Creek near Brooklands; nearly all of them should be fixed or replaced by mid-2017
January 18, 2016
The South Burnett Regional Council has been awarded $800,000 towards the replacement of Marshlands Bridge in Round 2 of the Federal Government’s “Bridges To Recovery” grants program.
Federal Member Ken O’Dowd, whose electorate of Flynn secured over $7.7 million in the latest round, made the announcement today.
Mr O’Dowd said the Bridges Renewal Program underpins the Government’s support for local bridges to ensure communities and businesses have easy access to essential services, traffic movement and the efficient transportation of road freight.
“The Bridges Renewal Program is designed to bolster productivity, and give councils the support they need to better serve their communities and drive greater efficiencies in road freight and traffic movement,” Mr O’Dowd said.
“It is clear that Councils in my electorate have thought seriously about how well their proposals address the objectives of the Program and, in many cases, have taken the time to consult with local industry on their needs and priorities.
“These upgrades mean local communities within Flynn will have access to safer and more reliable road access.”
The SBRC will use the grant to convert Marshlands Bridge on Silverleaf Road from a single lane wooden bridge to a dual-lane concrete structure.
The existing Marshlands Bridge was one of three dual-lane bridges reduced to a single lane in December 2013 when Council inspections determined the structures were becoming unsafe.
The Council also imposed load limits on six other bridges at the same time, for similar reasons.
This afternoon South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said he was delighted to receive the funding.
The Council had already budgeted spending $2.2 million this year to replace three bridges (Campbells Road Bridge at Silverleaf, Weens Road Bridge at Gordonbrook and Hansens Gully Bridge at Mondure) and rehabilitate or replace three others (Bob Morgan Bridge at Stonelands, Webbers Creek Bridge and Kings Bridge East).
Roads Portfolio chair Cr Damien Tessmann said he wanted to stress the grant was not entirely free; Council will still have to contribute half the funding for the project.
However it was a significant help in addressing the region’s ageing bridges problem.
“In about a year or so from now we hope to have all the worst bridges in our region fixed or fully upgraded,” Cr Tessmann said.
“We’ve been working hard to tackle this issue over the last couple of years and have been making good progress.
“Bridges are incredibly expensive to build, but if they’re built correctly they can last 100 years or more.
“So once we’ve tackled all the worst ones, we will be scaling back a bit.”
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