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Historical Notes on Bridges
Approximately 65% of the shire area is classified as flood liable land in a 1 in 100 year flood event. Urban levee banks protect most urban areas and most rural lands have some level of flood bank protection. So as you can see Bridges have played an important role in the development of transport within the Shire. Council has five lift span bridges over the Murray River with one ferry crossing. Specific information on each bridge is offered on the separate pages under this heading. Timber truss bridges and timber bridges were so common that NSW was known to travelers as the timber bridge State, with the Wakool Shire having some 45 timber bridges alone out of 75 overall. Council has tried in recent years to replace 2 timber bridges per financial year. Timber truss bridges were preferred by the Public Works Department from the mid 19th to the early 20th Century because they were relatively cheap to construct, and used mostly local materials. The financially troubled Governments of the day applied pressure to the Public Works to produce as much road & bridge work for as little cost as possible, using local materials. This condition effectively prohibited the use of iron & steel, as these prior to the construction of the steel works at Newcastle, in the early 20th century, had to be imported from England. In 1998 there were 27 surviving DARE trusses in NSW of the 40 built and 82 road truss bridges surviving from over 400 built. Timber truss road bridges have played a significant role in the expansion and improvement of the NSW Road network. Prior to bridges being built, river crossings were often dangerous in times of rain, which caused bulk freight movement to be prohibitively expensive for most agricultural and mining produce. Only the high priced wool clip of the time was able to carry the costs and inconvenience imposed by generally inadequate river crossings that often existed prior to the construction of various bridges. Tooleybuc Lift Span Bridge - Published: 26 Jul 2006Tooleybuc Bridge over the Murray River is a timber lift span bridge that was built in 1925. It is a timber truss & steel lift span bridge. It is owned and maintained by the NSW RTA. more .. Nyah Lift Span Bridge - Published: 31 Aug 2005 Is a structural steel, lift span bridge, 2 lanes wide across the Murray River, was built in 1941 and is maintained by the NSW RTA. more .. Gee Gee Bridge - Published: 31 Aug 2005 Located on Noorong Road (MR 94), approximately 37km from Swan Hill & 48km from Barham over the Wakool River. Is a NSW DARE type timber truss bridge constructed in 1929 and is maintained by the NSW RTA. more .. Coonamitt Bridge - Published: 31 Aug 2005 The Coonamit bridge is a DARE type timber truss road bridge located on the Moulamein/Swan Hill Road (MR 386) Approximately 30km from Swan Hill and 39km from Moulamein, over the Wakool River, which is maintained by the NSW RTA. It was constructed in 1929. more .. Barham/Koondrook Lift Span Bridge - Published: 31 Aug 2005 The Barham/Koondrook Bridge is of timber construction, lift span (which still operates) and was constructed in 1904 at a cost of ₤11358. Is located over the Murray River on MR 319 at Barham. The bridge comprises of a lift span & 2 de Burgh composite timber trusses designed by EM de Burgh, MICE Bridge Engineer of the NSW Public Works. An improvement on earlier designs, it was built by Messrs Monash & Anderson of Melbourne. more .. Speewa Ferry across Murray River - Published: 31 Aug 2005 Located on the Murray River on Speewa Road, approximately 16kms from Swan Hill and in owned & maintained by the NSW RTA. more .. Murrabit Lift Span Bridge - Published: 31 Aug 2005 Murrabit Bridge is located approximately 52km from Swan Hill and 34km from Barham or 24km along Victorian side over the Murray River and is maintained by the NSW RTA. more .. |
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© 2008 Wakool Shire Council |
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