Work to replace a Windellama district crossing plagued with flooding problems will start this financial year.
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The Nadgigomar crossing, near Windellama Public School is a low level concrete causeway that floods even in low to moderate storms, a council report states.
The council has won $712,807 under the State’s Fixing Country Roads program for the work. It complements the same amount granted earlier in Federal funds for the $1.425 million project.
A report to councillors at their meeting on Tuesday night recommends that Surry Hills based Bridgeworks be selected to upgrade the crossing for $1,335,000. It followed a tender process in October, to which two other companies responded.
The work will lift the crossing to a one in 20-year flood level and improve approaches, which have “poor visibility and alignment and increase the danger of head-on crashes.”
The two-lane crossing will be constructed to the east of the existing one.
The council also applied for $500,000 under the Fixing Country Roads program to replace the May Street bridge at Eastgrove, also subject to flooding.
However the application was unsuccessful for the $1m project. Given the shortfall, operations director Matt O’Rourke recommended that this work be deferred from 2017/18 to 2018/19 to enable funds to be identified, including through other grant applications.
He said work was unlikely to start on the May Street Bridge this financial year given the need for detailed design and site works. In any case, Mr O’Rourke stated the project shouldn’t start until Lansdowne Bridge was open to traffic in mid 2019. This was due to the fact that access was already disrupted by Lansdowne Bridge’s closure.
Mr O’Rourke also recommended that $210,000 be allocated to strengthen and widen the deck on Henry Parkes bridge at Parkesbourne. A load limit has been in place on this structure since December, 2016 when an inspection discovered deterioration. Design work has been completed. A report on tenders is expected to go to a February, 2018 meeting.