The Yass Valley Council will be placing a five tonne bridge load limit on Walmsleys Bridge at Yass River Road as a matter of urgency, following a review undertaken on Council’s timber road bridges and the potential need to implement repairs.
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Director of Operations, Simon Cassidy, provided an update to Council on a condition assessment of the Yass Valley’s 18 timber road bridges at the November 26 council meeting.
The report suggested that changes may be required to the 2014/15 Operational Plan and budget to fund further bridge condition/capacity assessments and implementation of any work.
“We have Identified the conditions of the bridges and found a need for upgrades and repairs. Our report has come back worse than anticipated,” Mr Cassidy said.
A further report will be prepared for council to provide details of any proposed load limits and actions to remove or ameliorate the effects of the load limits. Such options could include bypasses, low level crossings, bridge shoring, component replacement, bridge replacement, etc.
“It's difficult to argue with the engineer, however we are hoping to get another opinion. Some are going to be minor replacements however others it will not be possible. We are hoping to increase the load capacity which will ultimately affect motorists and emergency services,” Mr Cassidy said.
“It is a massive issue and in all design standards there is always a conservative element, but we would rather make sure it is safe.”
Councillor Cecil Burgess is concerned about the impacts these suggested load limits will have on local residents.
“They are old bridges that have been there for 50 years, I think its going to be frustrating if we wait around to get the work done with these load limits and restrictions on them. We really just need to fix them as soon as possible,” Cr Burgess said.
“I think it may have got a bit carried away, they have been carting weight across these bridges for years.”
“I do think they have let them deteriorate too much. On one of the bridges I have noticed that someone has put a bit of plywood on the bottom of it to hold it together.”
Social Bridge load limits have the potential to significantly impact on the social fabric of
the areas dependent on the modern transport infrastructure as well as economic load limits that could affect the financial viability of businesses.
“It will be extremely frustrating, with those kind of limits residents can’t even do a load of concrete. The biggest issue here is the Rural Fire Service and other emergency services, which by far exceeds the limits, given the time of year it seems a dangerous thing to be doing,” Cr Burgess explains.
It is intended that affected property owners will be written to immediately to communicate the potential effects and to obtain feedback on the impacts involved.