SWAN Hill Rural City Council will write to relevant ministers and MPs requesting they do everything possible to expedite the building of a new bridge at Swan Hill.
Councillor Les McPhee submitted a Notice of Motion that was carried requesting that Council write to MPs and ministers asking them to get involved in what has been a ongoing issue for a number of years.
The motion highlighted a number of concerns regarding the “apparent lack of action in progressing this issue which is of such fundamental importance to Swan Hill”.
By writing to ministers and MPs it is hoped they become aware of the history of the saga and consequently “get the bureaucrats to move forward as a matter of priority with the work to get a bridge built at Swan Hill”.
“Rather than talk to the bureaucrats that are involved in the design and the building of the bridge, we will talk to the ministers to see what they can do to help us get through this roadblock,” Cr McPhee said.
“This whole process, all it is doing is stopping the economic growth of Swan Hill and the Murray Downs area.
“With a modern 21st-century bridge, we will be able to expand our economic opportunities.”
There had been some delays present due to the fact that there was a heritage listing on the bridge, however a NSW Government report in May 2021 stated “a recent statewide review of timber truss road bridges in NSW has identified that the existing Swan Hill Bridge will be removed, and the bridge delisted from NSW and Victorian state heritage registers.”
Despite this report, the Swan Hill Bridge is still listed on the NSW State Heritage Inventory.
“I was very surprised that the heritage listing is still an issue with the bridge,” Cr McPhee said.
“We need to resolve this as soon as possible so we can get a new bridge.
“We are the only town of this size that doesn’t have a two lane bridge crossing the Murray River.
“We have had enough time for talk, we want some action.”
Cr McPhee highlighted the importance of agriculture to the economic structure of the city, and that the current bridge was not up to the standards that they require.
“Both sides of the river rely greatly on agriculture and with the bigger machinery they can’t get across on a single-lane bridge,” he said.
“They need to go to the wider bridges up and down the river.
“Transport and machinery are only going to get bigger into the future.
“Building a new bridge is the only way we can go ahead economically.”
