Torryburn residents will relish direct access to the outside world from next month when the town’s new bridge opens to traffic.
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Dungog council took over from tender Civil Bridge and Wharf at the site late last week and has started work on the road leading up to the bridge.
The crossing is expected to open to traffic on March 11, weather permitting.
Residents had hoped the council would have opened the bridge last week and let them use it when crews were not on site.
Some have questioned whether they should be able to use the bridge because it is now a road works site, rather than a construction zone.
“The roads leading up onto and off the bridge are better than the alternate route,” Caitlin Armstrong said.
“As I see it, the bridge has been certified for use if the machines can travel over it and be parked up on it,” Art Finlay added.
“Perfectly good bridge sitting there the locals could use.”
Dungog mayor, Cr Harold Johnston, acknowledged residents were eager to start using the new bridge but said the work had to finish before it would be opened.
He said the work would be finished as soon as possible.
“Council is working on the approaches, the signage and the safety rails,” he said.
“We hope it will give the community trouble-free service.
“The finishing date is obviously weather dependent, if there is reasonable weather we expect it to open on March 11.”
Cr Johnston praised Torryburn residents for their resilience and said council staff and contractors had worked hard to restore access as soon as possible.
“It will give the Torryburn community a chance to get back to some normality …
“They’ve had a tough year,” he said.
The concrete bridge, which is expected to cost $1.5 million, has been designed to withstand a large flood and will need little maintenance over the next 60 years.
Civil Bridge and Wharf, a Victorian-based company, secured the tender in September and made most of the bridge off site.
Its workers concreted the bridge deck in January and have spent the past few weeks finishing off the project.
The previous timber bridge was engulfed by floodwater on the morning of April 21 and collapsed under the weight of fallen trees and debris before it disappeared downstream.
It left about 100 residents, a horse stud, a dairy farm and several primary producers stranded.
A group of residents launched a pulley system attached to a small tinny and a milk crate within days to travel in and out of the town.
Some residents chose to wait for the NSW Roads and Maritime Services to build a temporary pedestrian bridge over the crossing, while work continued on a detour road off Clements Road.
The detour road, which was funded by the state government and opened in June, cost $1.1 million.
The bridge is expected to cost $1.5 million.
Residents have been stranded several times since the super storm when heavy rain north of the town forced low-level crossings over the Allyn River and Lewinsbrook Creek to swell, cutting the Clements Road detour in two places.
