Goulburn will have a slick new Lansdowne Bridge by April, 2019, the Roads and Maritime Service says.
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The concrete structure will be 68 metres long and 15.5m wide with a 4.2m high retaining wall to the approaches.
While Goulburn Mulwaree Council and some residents have lobbied hard for the replacement, not everyone is happy.
Goulburn Heritage Group has lodged a submission to the RMS strongly objecting to the old bridge’s destruction. It argues the 1902 De Burgh truss timber bridge is “a focal point” of one of the city’s most historic and tranquil precincts, including the Old Brewery, designed by Francis Greenway, Lansdowne Park homestead and the Mulwaree Ponds waterway and toll house.
“The structure could very easily be converted to a safe, interesting tourist pathway for pedestrians and cyclists,” the submission stated.
“(It is) a proposed wasteful and wrong use of public money (for) the creation of a brutally slick highway section for which bypass routes are already proving quite adequate, although needing to be upgraded. Our members would far prefer that the reported $13.2 million price tag be spent on preserving Lansdowne Bridge itself, on slightly upgrading Forbes Street, Bungonia and Brisbane Grove Roads, and on creating an attractive riverside environment from which this amazing structure could be explored and examined.”
The group also opposes the proposed separation of several adjoining rural properties using “new, unnaturally steep land embankments.”
Spokesman David Penalver said the group accepted the bridge would be demolished but it was “a shame such a gracious old structure could not be kept.”
A 2.5m wide footway will be built on the eastern side, a recent report to council stated.
An environmental assessment is expected to be finished by April and the design by July and demolition of the existing bridge to start in September/October.
A contract would be awarded by the end of 2017, with construction of the new structure estimated to start in February, 2018 and opened to traffic by April the following year. The new bridge will last 100 years at least.
”Council staff have been involved with this project as requested by RMS and has attended a design review workshop,” the report stated.
”To date 20 per cent of design has been completed for which various stakeholders, including Goulburn Mulwaree Council have provided their feedback. The council had proposed a barrier between the pedestrian walkway and the carriageway which has not been accepted by RMS design office.”
The council is also considering raising the level of bridge approaches at Forbes street and Bungonia Road to “improve flood immunity.”
Although setting out forecast project timelines, the report stated that no definitive dates for design completion and commencement of construction had been confirmed.
Mayor Bob Kirk noted at the meeting that the program was already two months behind schedule.
“It must have rained,” he quipped.
RMS officers were observed onsite on Tuesday morning.