Briars Sharrow Road during a flood in 2021. A replacement bridge is currently being built. Photo: Ashley Warwick.
Queanbeyan Council has accelerated a bridge-building project, despite warnings speeding up the process isn’t worth the $300,000 cost.
Earlier this year, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) temporarily closed Briars Sharrow Bridge to allow the building of a higher replacement bridge.
The bridge was set to be closed for much of the year and motorists were directed towards Foxlow Bridge.
But the council backflipped and closed that bridge as well, after an independent report found “progressive defects” with the replacement route.
Councillor Ross Macdonald said that while the council could spend money to have the project completed “better, quicker, faster”, it needed to be balanced with safety concerns.
“Three hundred grand gets you a month – look, it may not sound like a lot … [but] engineering is governed by the laws of physics,” Cr Macdonald said.
Council papers reveal the contractor has suggested ramping up its resources for the project, meaning they will finish the build more quickly.
“Wodens could deploy additional construction crew and equipment to complete critical earthworks more quickly,” the papers outline.
The chosen option means the new bridge will open a month ahead of schedule, after the council rejected another approach.
According to council documents, a temporary sidetrack would cost about $2,728,000 and be constructed in December.
Accelerating construction of the new bridge would be significantly cheaper, at about $296,000.
But the meeting documents hint at more costs, with land easement acquisition and the approval process for the plan not included in that quote.
These costs are estimated to be between $20,000 and $30,000.
A staff member told councillors that the roughly $300,000 cost estimation came from the project’s contractor.
“In that sense, they’re making a contractual offer – and if we accept that, we’ll certainly work to make sure we get that outcome.”
Councillor Katrina Willis pushed for further information on how the extra funds would impact the project’s bottom line, including its contingency funding.
She said that while residents were “highly inconvenienced” by the closure, building the bridge faster wasn’t the right response.
“Is $300,000 for four weeks advance – assuming everything goes to plan, and there are no disruptions or bad weather or whatever – a good use of our money?
“I’ve come down on the side of, no, it’s not.”
According to council documents, the project initially had about $534,565 in contingency.
“This contingency has been reduced to $65,239 following expenditure to cover council’s internal project management costs, charges for changes to school bus services and land matter costs,” the papers outline.
Councillor Morgan Broadbent pushed back on suggestions the plan was the best use of QPRC’s funds.
“The problem I have with this one is it’s either $300,000 now, or it’s asking for more money later from our ratepayers, for what is four weeks’ [progress].
“I am comfortable, personally, asking them to bear with us for about four weeks.”
In recent months, the alarm has been raised about how the council has engaged with the Hoskingtown community, with some members telling Region they felt let down.
Cr Macdonald hoped residents now felt things were changing.
“I know this is not going to make those problems go away, but I hope you see by this process that staff have continued to go down every avenue looking for solutions and acting on every piece of advice or request from the community,” he said.
“[I hope] there is, at least, an understanding that we are cognisant of the impact and the errors that have led to this.”
Updates can also be found through the Briars Sharrow Bridge upgrade page on the council’s website.
