Apart from the bridge over the Belubula River in Carcoar, very soon there will not be one single timber bridge of any real substance left in the Blayney shire.
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Thanks to a $1,424,900 grant under the NSW governments Fixing Country Bridges Program Round 2A the old timber Four Mile Creek Road Bridge over Swallow Creek will be replaced with a concrete one.
The total cost is $1,674,900 of which $250,000 will be a council co-contribution.
The existing bridge is located approximately 2.3 kilometres north of the Panuara Road intersection.
The new bridge will be 21 metres long and nine metres wide but on a different alignment to the current bridge, allowing the old timber bridge to remain in service until the new bridge and associated works are completed.
Blayney mayor Scott Ferguson said that replacing the last timber bridge in the shire was fundamental to good local government.
"Seven years ago we were closing bridges, load limiting other timber bridges and therefore restricting productivity in the shire," he said.
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"We just didn't have the funds or the support to do what we needed to do.
"Fast forward seven years and here we are on the cusp of no longer having any timber bridges which is an amazing achievement."
Cr Ferguson said that the combination of borrowings and state government programs would repay itself with increased productivity.
"We've methodically prioritised each bridge and worked through them," he said. "You only need to look at the bridge in Brown's Creek. It's a $2.5 million curved bridge that has changed a lot of people's live out there.
"It's those kinds of large infrastructure projects, the inter-generational ones that are fantastic and improve safety and productivity."
Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway said $49.25 million has been awarded to replace 34 timber bridges with concrete bridges across 21 Local Government Areas (LGA).
"With each bridge replaced, we're opening up more efficient routes for heavy vehicles from freight to the local school bus and RFS tankers," he said.