Cuttagee Bridge was built in 1892. Photo: David Rogers Photography.
Bermagui residents had many questions and plenty to say about the three design options for Cuttagee Bridge at a packed community forum at the Murrah Hall on Thursday (18 September).
Representatives from GHD, the engineering construction firm that is managing the bridge replacement project, were there to answer questions, as were Bega Valley Shire Council staff including CEO Anthony McMahon and director assets and operations Ian Macfarlane.
The designs are on exhibition until 6 October and council is seeking community feedback.
Councillors Tony Allen, Mitchel Nadin, Helen O’Neil and David Porter attended the forum.
On 12 November councillors will vote on which design to proceed with. The three options are a single-lane hybrid, a two-lane hybrid and a two-lane concrete bridge. Council staff will not be making any recommendations to councillors.
The one lane bridge will have a 3.5 metre wide lane and 1.5 metre shoulders. All options incorporate a 2.5 metre wide pathway. That takes the width of the single-lane option to 9 metres versus its current post-to-post width of 5 metres. The extra width would allow fire trucks to pass evacuating traffic.
The other options will have two three metre wide lanes and one metre shoulders.
The bridge designs have no load limit versus the existing bridge’s 15-tonne limit.
The two-lane bridges are designed for a speed limit of 80 km/h and 60 km/h for the single-lane option. The speed limits may not be that high.
Ken Murtagh spoke about the history of Cuttagee Bridge and has several old photos of it. Photo: Marion Williams.
GHD representative Jack Miller-Garland said all options would cost more than $20 million to build. The single-lane option is the cheapest. The concrete option would cost 5 per cent more and the two-lane hybrid option a further 5 per cent.
Detailed costing and design are expected to be ready in mid-2026. Council would seek top-up funding from the Federal Government so that construction could begin. “At a rough guess” construction is expected to take 12 months. It is hoped construction will be complete by mid-2027.
A temporary bridge will maintain residents’ access to Bermagui.
Residents were told the designs were informed by the $15 million funding deed with the State Government.
Mr McMahon said the deed was very specific and the bridge must abide by very tight performance standard guidelines.
One man asked why there was not more timber in the hybrid options, specifically timber decking like the existing bridge.
“A key objective of the funding agreement is lower maintenance,” Mr Miller-Garland said. “Timber isn’t compatible with that.”
Retired engineer Ken Murtagh with some of the plans he has drawn to fix the bridge instead of replacing it. Photo: Marion Williams.
Residents are very concerned about safety.
One resident said the average speed over the bridge was 56 km/h. He has written numerous submissions about the lack of a safe road system in the area over the past 15 years.
“We don’t have safe egress to the beach. We have to walk on the road,” he said. “The number of near misses and the number of wildlife being killed.”
People spoke about the environmental impact, particularly on Cuttagee Lake and the conservation zone at one end of the bridge.
Ken Murtagh, a retired engineer, has drawn plans of how the bridge could be reinforced with steel beams. He said it would be far cheaper and cause far less disruption and environmental damage than replacing it.
“I don’t see how they can get away with it from an environmental point of view.”
He said the stretch of road from Wallaga Lake to Tathra could become a “heritage engineering trail”.
Residents asked about council’s plans for the wooden bridges further south.
“Council plans to steadily chip away at those three structures,” Mr McMahon said. “The intention will be to replace, but the actual solutions haven’t been determined.”
One man said the majority of people living in the area and visiting the area appreciated it was unique. “The new bridge represents the chipping away of why we want to live here. That is being chipped away by completely irrelevant considerations of the size and nature of the bridge,” he said.
A Tanja resident said the new bridges would facilitate subdivisions and heavy gauge roads.
“If it isn’t a single-lane bridge I will be chaining myself to the construction equipment,” he said after the forum.
Cuttagee residents said they hadn’t got the choice they wanted.
“The thing I took out of today’s meeting was that the councillors have already made up their mind so why waste my time,” a Murrah resident said.
