James Hughes, 50, from Jerrabomberra died on Sunday after he was thrown from his bike and onto the river bank five metres below the bridge’s western side. 

He had been riding east on Oallen Ford Road, when his motorbike veered to the northern side of the road and collided with the guardrail, police said.

His partner Melissa Pearce has angrily laid the blame for her “soul mate’s” death squarely at Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s feet.

“He could not have avoided hitting the pothole, it was so large,” she said.

Ms Pearce said if her partner could have avoided the pothole he would have.

“He was a very good motorcyclist and a very experienced rider,” she told the ABC.

“At this stage what police have said to me is that they don’t believe he was at fault, they don’t believe he was speeding, they don’t believe that there was a rider error or that James contributed at all.

“I’m just devastated, I’ve lost my soul mate and I’m angry, this should not have happened.

“James should be here at home with me ... he should not be dead.

“He’s dead because there was a pothole in the road that wasn’t fixed - it’s not fair and it’s not right.”

Goulburn Mulwaree general manager Warwick Bennett said Council was aware of the pot hole and was attempting to make repairs at the time of the accident.

“We had received complaints,” he said.

“We had no troubles with other sections of the road.”

He said as the matter was under police investigation, the council would wait to see the police report before commenting further.

Ms Pearce said the council should have fixed the potholes earlier.

“Get your act together, I don’t want anybody to have to go through what I’m going through,” she said.

“It was avoidable, it should have been fixed - the problem was there weeks ago.”

Residents say they’ve been reporting the potholes in the new stretch of road since the bridge’s opening in mid-September.

Goulburn Mulwaree Council staff were seen on site in the hours after the accident, repairing the potholes.

The bridge and approaches were opened to traffic on September 11 this year. 

The new structure is due to be officially opened on November 12.

Ms Pearce said she would push for a coronial inquiry into her partner’s death.

“I really want a coronial inquest into why this happened and how it could have been prevented,” she said.

“I just don’t want a report which says he died from injuries sustained in an accident.

“I want an inquiry into why the road, just three weeks old, was in such a poor state of repair.

Why was the surface breaking up after the amount of money that was spent on it? 

Potholes should be fixed.”

On Thursday afternoon, Goulburn Police said their investigations were continuing.

OWNER of Johnno’s store at Windellama, Johnno Marshall, said large potholes appeared at each end of the bridge about two weeks before the fatal crash and one week after it opened.

“The road hadn’t dried out enough after they’d (Goulburn Mulwaree Council) completed it,” he said.

“It was a rushed job.”

But he did not know of anyone who brought this to Council’s attention.

Mr Marshall said coming around a blind corner, Mr Hughes would not have initially seen the hole, then tried to avoid it and veered off the road.

He has mounted a petition about the state of the roads generally in the Windellama area. 

So far he has gathered 200 signatures.

Mr Marshall said under former Mulwaree Shire Mayor Paul Stephenson, the council tarred 1km of road every year.

“The roads are just not getting done now. We’ve had no tar for eight years,” he said.

“We’re paying for it, everyone’s paying for it.”

He maintained the roads were not wide enough, posing a hazard when two caravans passed each other.

Mr Marshall said while residents had raised the matter at council outreach meetings, “nothing had been done”.

“We just want to get the roads updated,” he said.

“There’s a hole in Oallen Ford Rd at the Bungonia end that’s been there for eight years and water runs under the tar.”

Mr Marshall told the Post residents were “not happy” about last Sunday’s accident.