Bega Valley Shire Council has a $1.92 million grant from Transport for NSW’s Fixing Country Bridges program. It will replace the single-lane timber bridge on Dignams Creek with a 39.5 metre single-lane concrete bridge. Photo: Bega Valley Shire Council.
The replacement of Dignams Creek Boundary Bridge has come at a personal and economic cost to some Eurobodalla Shire residents.
The work was supposed to be complete by late June to mid-July. The latest advice from Bega Valley Shire Council (BVSC), which is responsible for maintaining the bridge, is that the work will be finished by late August.
That means two-car households must carry heavy goods over the footbridge for a further month.
The community lobbied BVSC and Eurobodalla Shire Council (ESC) hard to get the footbridge installed. Sometimes however, two-car households, like one-car households, must use back roads to Tilba and Narooma that have deteriorated since the bridge work began in mid-April. This is due to the extra use by Dignams Creek residents and tradespeople, recent heavy rain, and big trucks bringing materials for the bridge work.
In a statement about the condition of the back roads from Dignams Creek to Narooma and Tilba, an ESC spokesperson said all roads maintained by council were two-wheel drive accessible and it had not been advised or notified of any issues on its network requiring immediate action.
“Council is not responsible or empowered to maintain roads not under our ownership,” the spokesperson said. “BVSC has informed Forestry Corporation the alternate route for Dignams Creek includes roads under Forestry control.”
However Dignams Creek resident Alan Burdon said people with low two-wheel drive cars and inexperienced dirt road drivers could not use those back roads because of the creek crossings.
Dignams Creek resident Alan Burdon said there was water 15 to 30 cm deep in some places on the back roads. Photo: Fiona Kotvojs.
Residents’ anxiety has been compounded by erratic communication. For example, extended periods of apparent inactivity at the site were not explained.
On 2 July, BVSC told residents the project was delayed and promised more information. A comprehensive explanation did not arrive until 28 July.
“We got a letter early on saying communication hadn’t been great, but it would improve,” resident Fiona Kotvojs said. “To be fair to BVSC, communication did improve, but seemed to stop after the delays started. If they had sent us the 28 July communication a month ago it would have allayed our concerns.”
A BVSC letter to a resident dated 22 July attributed the delays to two floods that necessitated prolonged dewatering of foundation work, a resident’s complaint to the Environmental Protection Authority, and unstable foundation conditions for one of the bridge piers.
The 28 July communication to community members suggested initial geotechnical investigations were flawed. They thought they had hit the necessary bedrock. Subsequent drilling work revealed it was not bedrock and there was more river gravel and clay-like material below. That required a complete redesign of the foundation works for the bridge pier.
Resident Rici Tandy said a lot of time was wasted through not having the correct geotechnical assessment. “It is poor planning and contingencies were not considered,” Ms Tandy said.
Drilling work for Dignams Creek Boundary Bridge in late July. Photo: Bega Valley Shire Council.
In a letter to BVSC dated 19 July, Ms Kotvojs said the project delays and associated absence of good vehicular access had personal and economic impacts.
These included significant time delays through detours via Tilba or Narooma adding up to an hour each way, less mobile people unable to cross the footbridge losing social connection, and injury risk when crossing the footbridge.
Farmers had to sell vealers early, before the bridge closed, meaning smaller animals and lower market prices. They had paid high costs to transport equipment such as tractors for repairs because mechanics couldn’t access the site. Lack of machinery and equipment access meant weed removal could not be undertaken nor sod seeding completed.
Of most concern were safety risks if there was a fire or medical emergency as emergency services faced extensive delays to get to the area. Lives and property were at risk.
Neither ESC nor BVSC wants responsibility for the bridge. BVSC said its staff had made informal offers to ESC over the years to take control of the bridge that “services only ESC residents”. ESC rejected the offers. BVSC said it would make a formal offer after the concrete bridge was constructed.
Mr Burdon said the bridge was vital to protect the northern end of the Bega Valley and southern end of Eurobodalla Shire during bushfires, and ESC had seemingly abrogated all its responsibilities to ratepayers during the bridge work. “Every time we raise something with ESC, they say talk to BVSC,” he said.
