New and improved bridge open for use

Improved flood resilience, user safety and less maintenance. These are the benefits of the recently replaced Ginger Creek Bridge, on Anderleigh Road, according to Infrastructure Services Portfolio Councillor, Bob Leitch. “The new double lane concrete bridge replaced an existing timber structure and will provide much better resilience against objects and debris in times of flood.

“While I want to recognise the importance of the timber industry to our local economy, in this instance replacing timber with concrete means less maintenance costs moving forward and provides a safer piece of infrastructure for road users overall,” Cr Leitch said.

The Ginger Creek Bridge replacement project was budgeted at $1.369 million, of which nearly $450,000 was provided by the Queensland Government’s Transport Infrastructure Development Scheme. The final project cost came in significantly under budget at $895,000.

“Staff designed the bridge as a single span across Ginger Creek, removing the need for a number of pillars in the waterway,” Cr Leitch said. “These design changes resulted in considerable cost savings.” “Thanks to the patience and understanding of the community, a detour was able to be put in place to mitigate the effect this project had on a flying fox colony downstream.

“Overall this project was successful from an environmental, financial and user perspective,” he said.

The Ginger Creek Bridge project is part of Gympie Regional Council’s Bridge Replacement Program.