Yass Valley's farmers can now safely transport livestock, feed and machinery following the opening of four new, two-way bridges without load limits.
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Mayor Rowena Abbey and State MP Wendy Tuckerman officially opened the new bridges on Monday, July 29.
These are the first of 11 replacements under Yass Valley Council's $5.6 million Timber Bridge Renewal Program.
The program has been funded by a grant of $2.485 million from the State government's Fixing Country Roads Program and rates.
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"We want to make sure regional communities are getting the infrastructure they need to do business," Mrs Tuckerman said.
"I know it wasn't a great excitement for everyone when the special rate variation went through, but instead of [this project] taking 15 to 20 years ... we have been able to bring it forward for our rural community to give access to safer roads," Cr Abbey said.
In 2016, the council introduced a special rate variation of 8.5 per cent annually for four years. The additional funds were promised for road and bridge upgrades.
Local farmers have been travelling extra distances with load limits on some of the timber bridges as low as two tonnes.
The original limit of 6.5t on Derringullen Bridge meant Black Range Road residents living to the west had to travel an extra 7km along Common Road and the Hume Highway to access Yass Valley Way with trucks.
Allan McGrath crosses the bridge several times a day to collect school children in his 6.25t bus. While Mr McGrath was able to make the journey, he said the bridge was narrow and rickety and he was nervous the council would shut it altogether.
Even the Rural Fire Service had to go the long way around, according to Black Range Road resident, Mark Bosma.
People such as Allan McGrath and Mr Bosma have been asking the council to install a new bridge for years.
"It's long overdue," another Black Range Road resident, Colin McGrath said.
The timber Derringullen Bridge was opened on April 2, 1936, according to the Yass Tribune-Courier.
Mr McGrath said his great-grandfather was alive then and rode his horse to give beers to workers building the bridge.
Although, some residents believe the bridge was opened before 1936.
Don Payne, 87, lives on Black Range Road and said he was aged one when it was built. That would mean the bridge was opened in 1933.
Others recall a photo published in the Yass Tribune-Courier in 1926, showing a man named Alf Smith crossing the bridge with a mob of sheep.
Nevertheless, these residents were glad to see the bridge replaced in 2019.
The new structure is made of steel and estimated to cost $680,000.
"The bridge is an ex-military bridge designed for quick deployment to enable tanks and other military equipment to get across waterways during war," Genium Civil Engineering director Simon Cassidy, who project managed the build, said.
The other bridges to be replaced include Graces Flat Road (Two Mile Creek), Childowla Road (Jugiong and Oak Creeks), Burrinjuck Road (Barren Jack Creek), Horseshoe Road (Mullion Creek), Nottingham Road (Nottingham and Micalong Creeks) and Childowla Road (Limestone Creek).
They will all be two-way and without load limits.
The Graces Flat Road and Childowla Road bridges are already under construction. The others aim to be completed by 2020.
