Northern Grampians Shire Council’s Bridge Program impresses

Northern Grampians Shire Council has a substantial bridge program, impressive for its significant government funding, commitment to effective transport access, and more recently for its new technology. 

“Most of our bridges were built decades ago. They were built to the needs and standards of the time, but of course, community and commercial needs have changed and many of our bridges no longer meet our transport requirements,” Councillor Haswell, Mayor of Northern Grampians Shire Council said. 

Building new bridges is unaffordable, instead, the shire’s focus is on strengthening and widening them to ensure that structures built more than 50 years ago can connect local communities and businesses with major roads and highways. 

An example of successful and innovative bridge work is in Carapooee, south-east of St Arnaud, the work on this bridge has given Steven Cobden Senior Design Engineer the nick name ‘The Bridge Doctor’.  

The original bridge, built in the 1970’s, was unsuitable for farmers needing to move large equipment across multiple sites and commercial quarries who had to bypass the local bridge, resulting in expensive and time-consuming detours to move their products. 

“We strengthened the Carapooee bridge with carbon fibre and other technologies. Use of carbon fibre is fairly new to local governments and we are amongst the first to use it for bridge renewal. It has the strength of steel, but does not corrode, and is light, and easy to use,” said Steven Cobden. 

“Until recently, bridge renewal meant working with large pieces of steel that had to be bolted to concrete. With carbon fibre, we drape it around the underside of the bridge, and it resembles a sick bridge that has been bandaged to restore its strength,” Mr Cobden added. 

Other features that make this bridge project stand out include a commercial partnership with a local business and community members who use the bridge contributing to the cost. This says a lot about the proactive communities we work with to ensure effective, safe transport access.