$500,000 for Gentle Annie Bridge upgrade

Extract of Border Mail article published 29 June 2006
Councils eager to spend road funding
BY CHLOE BUGELLY

THE Alpine, Wangaratta and Wodonga councils have earmarked how they will spend the Federal Government’s Roads to Recovery money.

More than $6.5 million was allocated to councils in the Indi electorate for roads and infrastructure work in this year’s federal Budget.

Wodonga will use its $370,000 to commence upgrades on Thomas Mitchell Drive after October.

The money will also be used to begin the construction phase of improvements to High St early next year.

Wangaratta council was given nearly $1 million, one of the biggest hand-outs in the funding package.

Six roads and bridges in the city will be reconstructed including the Gentle Annie Bridge, at Whitfield, crossing the King River.

Wangaratta infrastructure services director Malcolm Styles said the money would go a long way.

“Under the road management Act we have obligations to ensure roads and local bridges are maintained,” he said.

“Some of these structures are at the end of their useful lives so it’s crucial to be able to upgrade and maintain them.” ... full story here

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Upgrading the Gentle Annie Bridge is long overdue. The deck of the existing bridge is in fine shape but the support structure has rotted away and has been repaired over many years.

Back in the 1980's, the now extinct CRB had scheduled its replacement. Land was acquired and test piles were driven. And then came the transition to VicRoads ... and all bets were off.

In the 1998 floods, the deck was buckled by a giant gum tree lodging against the support structure. That is why the steel railing is bent along the way.

The RCoW is to be thanked for raising the priorioy on the Gentle Annis Bridge upgrade.

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