Ed,

On 18th January the CV Independent published my letter regarding the urgent need for structural assessment, rectification of defects and repainting of the Grafton Bridge, as promised by the State Government during the planning for the 2nd bridge. I called upon Chris Gulaptis MP to immediately disclose, via the CV Independent, exactly what action is intended by his government and when it will happen.
Sadly, Mr Gulaptis did not respond, but I commend CV Independent reporter, Emma Pritchard, for seeking an interview with Mr Gulaptis, to get some answers (CVI 8/2/23). His office merely issued a statement saying that there are no plans at all to maintain the bridge structurally or visually. Gulaptis’ office even launched a couple of red herrings, saying that the bridge is the responsibility of Transport NSW and the Railways, but didn’t say that both are simply agencies of the NSW State Government (Mr Gulaptis’ employer and the owner of the bridge).
In my first letter I compared the standard of maintenance of the Sydney Harbour and Grafton Bridges. Both bridges are owned by the NSW Government, are of identical age, are built of identical materials, both have a design life of 100 years (only 9 years to go!). The Sydney bridge has been impeccably maintained since 1932, Grafton has never been maintained. Currently, up to 90 tradespersons are employed fulltime maintaining the Sydney Bridge, none at all are employed to maintain the Grafton Bridge, and the current Government apparently has no plans to change this. Design Life of a structure is an estimate of it’s safe working life, subject to adequate maintenance. Because of its impeccable whole-of-life maintenance, the Sydney Bridge will outlive its design life, but conversely the Grafton Bridge could be declared “unfit for use” any day now, exactly what happened to the Grafton Memorial Pool, all for the want of a little TLC (maintenance).
Visually the Grafton Bridge has become an eyesore, an embarrassment to the town. It has rightly been listed on the State Heritage Register, and I thought that this might protect it indefinitely, but it seems I’m wrong again.
Closure of Grafton Bridge would be an absolute disaster for Grafton, and I urge locals to think just how it would affect their daily life, particularly for those commuting between Grafton and South. One vitally interesting aspect is that when the inevitable flood is forecast to overtop or breach the 8.1m Grafton Levee, the State Government’s evacuation plan is to shift over 10,000 people from North Grafton. The only planned and available evacuation route, for residents who have nowhere else to go, is over the Grafton Bridge and along Bent Street to the South Grafton High School (will get a little crowded there!).
Now it could be said that we have the new Grafton bridge also, but in both floods since it was opened by Mr Gulaptis in December 2019, the new bridge has been closed due to flooding of the approaches, a design and construction failure. So, we will all line up to cross the good old Grafton Bridge, unless of course it has been permanently closed by Government inaction.
Make no mistake, the Grafton Levee will definitely be overtopped or breached. It only protects North Grafton against about a 1 in 27-year (4% probability every year) flood. The February 2022 flood in Lismore was about a 1 in 2000-year event, so Grafton has just been incredibly lucky so far. In a 1 in 100-year flood, most houses in Grafton will be inundated and if there is no evacuation route, it’s likely that horrendous loss of life could result.
Chris Gulaptis and his Liberal/ National government have shown no interest in major maintenance of the Grafton Bridge, which will inevitably result in its closure. It would be interesting to know where the other candidates for the seat of Clarence in the March State Elections stand on this issue.

Mike Gorrie, Grafton