DETOURS will be in place for the next six weeks as Mount Gambier City Council removes the 60-year-old Hay Drive bridge to construct a two-way roadway.
Demolition on the $191,000 project started yesterday and works are expected to continue until March 8, with access to the extension of Hay Drive available via Keegan Drive through Bay Road.
The existing bridge, which currently has a weight limit of 10 tonnes, will be replaced with a two-lane roadway with no weight restrictions as part of council’s 2018/19 works program.
After contractors remove the bridge and the area underneath is filled, council will construct a roadway in the same location.
City Council’s infrastructure general manager Nick Serle said the works were originally planned to be undertaken at the same time as the removal of the old Mount Gambier Hospital in 2014.
He said the bridge was unnecessary given the old hospital’s access road from Lake Terrace West was filled shortly after the facility was demolished.
“That bridge was built back in the 60’s when the hospital was there and went up over what was pretty much an extension of Wehl Street South,” he said.
“Once the need for an overpass was gone, the intention was always to remove the bridge.
“Council decided to fill the gap in underneath and build a two-way road rather than spending significant money on upgrading a bridge that does not need to be there.”
Mr Serle said the total removal and replacement of the ageing bridge would be more cost-effective than continual upgrades, which are needed to maintain the structural integrity.
“It is nearly 60 years old and bridges get built for 50 years, not 100 years,” he said.
“It is not unsafe or anything, but it will need significant and costly work in the next few years.”
