Why a temporary bridge?

We've received a number of enquiries as to why we didn’t start construction of the new permanent bridge solution on Indigo Creek Road straight away instead of building the temporary bridge and access road.

The simple answer is: the permanent bridge solution is not likely to be installed for anywhere between eight and 18 months and the loss of access on this key link road for this amount of time was simply not a viable option. As a result, we opted to access Federal Government Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements to reinstate a good level of access while the new, permanent bridge project is progressed.

The timeline to install a new permanent bridge involves a number of stages, including:

• geotechnical drilling surveys
• detailed structural designs
• statutory approvals and importantly,
• sourcing the funding necessary before tendering the works and securing a bridge contractor.

Once the bridge contractor is appointed there will be material and mobilisation lead times before the actual construction works can begin which, alone, will likely take three to four months to complete. In particular, some of the current uncertainty around the lead time relates to the especially high demand at the moment for bridge contractors and long material times.

An important final consideration was also that the bridge contractor would have needed to install a temporary bridge for its own purposes during the construction period, so the installation of the temporary bridge helps reduce the final contract price.