ACCESS to and from the Benjeroop area has been enhanced for both people and water with construction of a new bridge over the Loddon River.
Less than three months after work began, the new $1.676 million bridge at Benjeroop was officially opened on Monday.
The Federal Member for Mallee, Andrew Broad performed the official opening, saying the project highlighted the Federal Government’s commitment to infrastructure projects.
“This is the first time that the Federal Government has given money directly to councils to build bridges and it makes sense,” he said.
“If we’re going to get our books back on track, we’ve got to maximise the things we produce and there’s no point producing product when you can’t shift it.”
Mr Broad said the electorate wanted to see the government spending taxpayer dollars on infrastructure projects that provided tangible benefits to communities.
“Barnaby Joyce, who’s the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Nationals, always says to me that people will vote for us when it comes to election time if we can put our hand on something and say we built it, we built a railway, we built a bridge, we built a mobile phone tower,” he said.
“Ultimately that’s what government’s about; it’s about using your money to build the things we collectively need to make sure our economy and our society is strong.”
The project was jointly funded by the Federal Government and Gannawarra Shire Council, each contributing $838,000.
The new two-lane concrete structure with 160-tonne carrying capacity replaces an aging single-lane timber bridge which was built in 1951.
Gannawarra mayor, Cr Brian Gibson said the new bridge opened up new possibilities for the Benjeroop district and wider region.
“This bridge provides much greater access through the top of our shire and for our industries that are potentially and currently here,” he said.
With the Benjeroop-Lake Charm Road closed for less than 60 days during construction, Cr Gibson said a full closure was a much better option than a staged project.
“It was a bold move to close the bridge totally but I think looking at other small bridge projects that [were partially closed for lengthy periods], it was the right decision to get it done quickly as possible,” he said.
Local flood wardens were also on hand at the official opening to mark the culmination of their sustained campaign to have the new bridge built 500 millimetres higher than the former structure.
Flood wardens argued that the old bridge was a significant impediment to floodwater and that the new structure needed to be significantly higher to avoid issues with future floods.
Gannawarra Shire Council agreed at the 11th hour and undertook road works to raise the approaches to the bridge.
