Council’s decision to award tenders to replace severely damaged Clouds Creek Bridge and Chevalley’s Bridge is welcomed news for Clarence Valley residents.
Jamie Fleeting, Director of Works & Civil at Clarence Valley Council said, “we have received over $3M of Bushfire Recovery funding to replace these bridges, funding that is covered by Natural Disaster declarations under State Government guidelines.”
“The initial assessment of Chevalley’s Bridge was to determine the costs of replacing or repairing the bridge. It was established that a complete replacement made from reinforced concrete was the most feasible option.”
“The Bushfire funds only covered the value of a single lane replacement bridge, so we accessed further funding through the NSW Government’s Fixing Country Bridges program to cover 50% of the new bridge. This has enabled us to replace the single lane, timber bridge with a more suitable two-lane concrete structure.”

“The five-span Clouds Creek Bridge is a similar story,” said Mr. Fleeting.
“It was also damaged beyond repair in the 2019 fires. We installed a temporary low-level crossing to enable the road to reopen, however, this was washed away shortly afterward when flooding impacted the creek. The road was reopened again once the temporary structure was replaced.” 
“It is an exciting announcement for the community to know that these essential assets are in the works schedule for replacement,” said Mr. Fleeting.
These robust, concrete bridges will be better able to withstand any future fires and floods and are an important step along the road to recovery for these fire-affected communities.