July 9, 2021
Nanango State School students who want to cross Sandy Creek can do it safely again across a new steel bridge built by the South Burnett Regional Council.
The bridge connects Pioneer Park to the school.
Its opening has also put an end to a two-year problem for Council’s engineers.
Sandy Creek was originally spanned by a single lane wooden bridge thought to have been built in the 1920s or 1930s.
That bridge was abruptly closed in August 2019 when engineers doing a routine maintenance check found structural faults that put it at risk of imminent collapse.
After a full assessment, the wooden bridge was reinforced and reopened so students could avoid the need for a long detour across Ben Walters Bridge in lower Drayton Street to get to the school.
The cost of a more permanent replacement was put into Council’s budget and plans for it were drafted soon after.
However – like many things – construction of the new bridge was delayed by materials shortages caused by the COVID pandemic.
This meant demolition of the temporary bridge and its replacement with a new steel one took longer than originally planned.
Cr Roz Frohloff said one surprising problem the engineers ran into was securing steel of an appropriate colour for the bridge.
“We wanted a bridge that blended into the location, not one that stood out,” she said.
However, she was pleased staff persisted until they had secured the right colour, and even more pleased with the result which allows school children to easily access the park and nearby South Burnett Aquatic Centre.
Work on the bridge’s replacement began in mid-May.
It was partially funded by a grant from the State Government’s School Transport Infrastructure Program, with the balance coming from Council’s capital works budget.
The work was carried out as part of a general upgrade to Pioneer Park which also included the installation of a flying fox and several other improvements to the park’s amenities.
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