Timber Bridge Program Update
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In 2014 Council commissioned a specialist bridge consultant to review and test all timber road bridges in Yass Valley. Of the 18 timber road bridges in the Local Government Area (LGA) it was identified that 17 of the bridges required either urgent works or load limits.
Since the review, resulting in the implementation of load limits in 2014, Council has replaced two timber road bridges with concrete bridges on Gums Lane (project cost - $200,000) and Dicks Creek Road (project cost - $1.4M). $185,000 has also been spent on upgrades and rehabilitation for four bridges (Bango Lane, Burrinjuck Road x 2 and Garryowen Road).
In late 2017, Yass Valley Council was successful in obtaining significant funding under round 3 of the NSW Government's Fixing Country Roads Program for its Timber Bridge Renewal Program. Under this program, Council will address 11 load limited timber bridge structures, with the project due for completion 2020. These will be replaced by new structures in either concrete or steel. Delivery of this program will address the need to have load limits, thereby providing significant economic benefit to the region's agricultural sector.
*Completion dates for some of the concrete bridges have been revised due to delays from the contractor Tobco.
This works program is dependent on a number of variables (eg. weather) and should act as a guide only.
Project updates & community informationMonday, 2 September 2019
Steel Bridge Update
Derringullen Bridge on Black Range Road and Walmsley Bridge on Yass River Road were officially opened at the end of July. Over the last couple of weeks the team at Complete Civil have been removing the existing timber bridges. There are still minor works to be done on these two sites, including finalisation of the road and sealing the approaches. This is expected to be completed by the end of November.
The second stage of the steel bridge replacement program includes the Micalong Creek Bridge in Wee Jasper and the third Bridge on Childowa Road over Limestone Creek. Works are expected to commence at Micalong Creek the first week of September and will include the construction of an access track, earthworks and demolition of the existing bridge. Shortly after this Complete Civil will begin works at the Childowla site and will work concurrently between both bridges.
It is expected the bridge at Micalong Creek will be completed by mid-December at the latest and the final bridge on Childowla Road by January/February.
Concrete Bridge Update
Leake Street Bridge was officially opened at the end of July, it is now completely finished with the hand rails installed and rock scour protection finalised.
The second bridge in our program is Graces Flat Road. This bridge is really starting to take shape now, the planks have been placed on the abutments with the grouting and sealing to occur in the next week. Once this is complete, works will continue on the road, the scour protection and the removal of the low level bypass. The bridge should be open by end of September at the latest, weather permitting.
The team at Tobco have also made good progress on bridges three and four both on Childowla Road. The piling is completed for both sites and the abutment works are well underway. It is expected that these two bridges should be open by the end of October/mid- November, weather permitting.
The remaining three bridges, Burrinjuck Road, Horseshoe Road and Nottingham Road are also proceeding well. All designs are now finalised and works will commence at Burrinjuck early September, Horseshoe and Nottingham in October/November.
Thursday, 1 August 2019
Overall Project Update
The first 3 of the 11 timber bridges to be replaced as part of Councils Timber Bridge Replacement Program are now officially open. Derringullen Bridge on Black Range Road, Walmlsey’s Bridge on Yass River Road and the Leake Street Bridge in Bowning are now open to traffic and no longer have a load limit.
The remaining 6 concrete Bridges are all currently underway in some part. The Graces Flat Road Bridge is taking shape with both abutments now poured and currently curing. Childowla Road Bridge 1 and 2 have both been demolished with the piling complete on Bridge 1 and preparing to begin on Bridge 2.
For Burrinjuck Road, Horseshoe Road and Nottingham Road (Seg 28) Bridges, we are currently working through the final design stages with the contractor. Works will commence on the Burrinjuck Road Bridge after the Childowla Road 2 Bridge is finalised - this is expected to be toward the end of September at this stage.
There are 2 remaining steel bridges to be constructed, the first will be at Micalong Creek in Wee Jasper. It is anticipated the works will commence on site early September with the final steel bridge on Childowla Road (Seg 18) to commence toward the end of the year.
Monday, 1 July 2019
Childowla Road - Jugiong Creek bridge and Oak Creek bridge
Tobco have advised that preliminary works will begin on the first two bridges on Childowla Road this week. This will include the demolition of the existing timber bridges and the setup of traffic and environmental controls.
Thursday, 27 June 2019
Childowla Road - Jugiong Creek bridge and Oak Creek bridge
Tobco have advised that they will be commencing at the two Childowla bridge sites in August, if not sooner. Once demolition of these bridges has been completed, piling and abutment works will follow.
Leake Street Bridge (Bowning) & Graces Flat Road Bridge
The Leake Street bridge is starting to take shape. The planks have now been placed on the abutments with the grouting and sealing to occur in the next week. Once this is complete works will begin on the drainage, walkway and road works. We are hopeful this bridge will be open by the end of July, weather permitting.
The team at Tobco have also commenced works on the second bridge on our replacement program – Graces Flat Road. The existing bridge has been demolished and the piling has now commenced. At this stage we expect to have Graces Flat completed by the end of August, beginning of September.
Derringullen Bridge (Black Range Road) & Walmsley Bridge (Yass River Road)
Derringullen Bridge (Black Range Road) has been launched, which means the bridge is in place on the abutments. The team at Complete Civil are currently completing the concrete retaining walls, which will then require several days of curing time. Once these structures are complete the placing of the decking panels and the earthworks/roadworks shall continue. We are hopeful that the bridge will be completed by mid-July, weather permitting.
Walmsleys Crossing (Yass River Road) has also been launched. Complete Civil are working concurrently with the Derringullen site to get the retaining walls formed up and poured. Once the team finishes at Derringullen they will be finalising the Walmsley site. We hope to be completed by the end of July at the latest, weather permitting.
Thursday, 23 May 2019
Graces Flat Road bridge
Council’s contractor Tobco will be starting works at the Graces Flat Road bridge site this week. It is planned that the closure of the existing bridge will be undertaken at the end of the week, with signage in place to direct all traffic to use the bypass track and give way whilst doing so. Demolition of the existing timber bridge is scheduled for next week. Council anticipates that the works to be completed by the end of July but as always this is weather dependent.
Thursday, 16 May 2019
Derringullen Bridge (Black Range Road) & Walmsley Bridge (Yass River Road)
Council's contractor plans to commence assembly of the new Derringullen Bridge (Black Range Road) on Monday, 27 May. All works should be undertaken off the road with no additional impacts expected to motorists.
The majority of the componentry has also now been delivered to the Walmsleys Bridge site (Yass River Road). The contractor will commence assembling this bridge as soon as work is completed at Derringullen Bridge, which will be approximately June.
Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Derringullen Bridge (Black Range Road) & Walmsley Bridge (Yass River Road)
The abutments at Derringullen are now complete and fully cured, as well as the bulk earthworks to improve the site distance of the bridge approach. Complete Civil have now started to move the bridge componentry to the site so the construction of the actual bridge can begin prior to the ‘launching’ of the bridge towards the end of the project.
The abutments at Walmsleys are underway at present and it is expected they will be completed by mid-May. Whilst the abutment work is undertaken the steel componentry will also be delivered to the site.
It is expected that the bridge ‘launchings’ shall occur one after the other with Derringullen scheduled for early June and Walmsleys for mid/end of June. Once this has occurred the final processes of demolition of the existing structures, road works and reestablishment shall be carried out. We anticipate both bridges to be completed by the end of July, mid-August at the latest.
Leake Street Bridge (Bowning) & Graces Flat Road Bridge
The Leake Street bridge replacement is well underway. Tobco (contractor) are making good progress on the site with the existing bridge demolished and the piles set to be poured over the next couple of weeks. Once these are cured the bearing strips will be installed followed by the bridge planks. Tobco are expecting to open the new bridge by mid-June.
The next bridge to be replaced will be on Graces Flat Road. Works shall commence on site over the next couple of weeks, this will then be followed by the first bridge on Childowla Road (Jugiong Creek) commencing around mid-June.
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Derringullen Bridge (Black Range Road) & Walmsley Bridge (Yass River Road)
Complete Civil are proceeding as per the agreed schedule for both the Derringullen Bridge (Black Range Road) and Walmsley Bridge (Yass River Road) replacements. The first of the two abutments for the Derringullen Bridge site are almost constructed and the concrete should be poured later in the week, once this occurs the first abutment will be left to cure whilst work begins on the second.
Complete Civil will be moving to the Walmsley site mid-April to cut off and prepare the piles and begin constructing the abutments. It is expected the concrete for these two abutments will be poured around the end of April.
Once the abutments have cured at the Derringullen Bridge site the steel bridge components will be transferred to site and earthworks will begin, it is at this stage that traffic control may be put in place to allow some works to take place on the existing road – further information will be provided as this stage of the works approaches.
Complete Civil will also be working on the Walmsley Bridge site concurrently to transport the steel bridge components and prepare the earthworks.
This project is going well with completion expected towards the end of June.
Leake Street Bridge (Bowning) & Graces Flat Road Bridge
The design work for the first of Council’s seven concrete bridges is now complete. The contractor, Tobco, are planning the establish the Leake Street Bridge site during early-mid April. During establishment Tobco will be setting up a site compound, implementing the bridge closure and detour, setting up their work zone and commencing with the existing bridge removal. Leake Street will be a ‘no through road’ during the construction of the new bridge.
It is expected that the replacement of the Leake Street Bridge will take approximately 8 weeks – with updates to be provided once works are underway.
The second bridge to be replaced will be Graces Flat Road Bridge with works expected to commence at the end of April – early May, subject to design approvals. Council will provide an update as design works progress.
Friday, 22 February 2019
Complete Civil are making good progress with the Derringullen (Black Range Road) and Walmsleys (Yass River Road) bridge sites, with all works generally on schedule. The piling will be the next stage in the construction process. Piling works will be starting on Derringullen Bridge on Tuesday 26th February 2019 and should be completed by early March 2019. At this stage Walmsleys will be commencing on the 4th of March 2019 and is expected to take approximately 1 week. Piling can be a noisy part of the construction process as the contractors will be drilling into rock to create the supporting structures for the bridges. Council apologise if this causes any inconvenience. It is not anticipated that these works will impact on current traffic conditions. Once the piling is completed works will commence on the bridge abutments.
Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Complete Civil have commenced preliminary works for the replacement of Walmsleys Bridge (Yass River Road), with preliminary works on the Derringullen Bridge (Black Range Road) site to commence next week. These two bridges will continue throughout the project, to be built concurrently.
Tobco have been engaged by Council to undertake the design and construction of the seven (7) concrete bridges. The design component of this project is well underway with the first of these bridges – Leake Street (Bowning) set to begin at the end of March.
Childowla Road (Limestone Creek) & Nottingham Road (Micalong Creek) are still currently going through the tender process. It is anticipated that the contract will be awarded after the March Council Meeting.
Friday, 18 January 2019
Complete Civil has been engaged by Council to undertake the replacement of Walmsleys Bridge (Yass River Road) and Derringullen Bridge (Black Range Road). The preliminary works for Walmsleys Bridge will commence on Monday, 21 January 2019. This initial work should not impact road users but there will be traffic control measures in place, for the safety of contractors working on the site. After the preliminary works are completed at the Walmsleys Bridge location Complete Civil will move onto the Derringullen Bridge site. While the Derringullen Bridge is scheduled to be the first bridge to be replaced, works will occur simultaneously on both.
Note: Council has established a communication database to liaise directly with community members interested in receiving updates on Council's Timber Bridge Replacement Program. If you would like to be included, please call (6226 1477) or email ([email protected]) and ask to be included on the Timber Bridge Replacement Program email database.