New bridge to keep Commissioners Creek connected
Thursday 26 April 2018
Council last week adopted a recommendation to build a new bridge parallel to the existing McCabe’s Bridge at Doon Doon to provide road access to residents of Commissioners Creek after the wall of Clarrie Hall Dam is raised.
The decision followed a number of studies and 12 months’ consultation with the affected residents. The residents nominated a new bridge as their preferred option at a stakeholder meeting at Doon Doon Hall on Tuesday 20 March.
The residents’ preference was presented to Council as the preferred option and adopted unanimously.
Council will now begin work on the detailed design and environmental assessment for constructing the new bridge. This work will take about a year.
The new bridge will be six metres higher than the existing bridge and require the raising and upgrading of 700 metres of road approach on both sides. It will be a three-span, 50-metre-long concrete bridge with two four-metre-wide traffic lanes and will cost about $6 million. Construction of the new bridge may begin as early as 2019. The existing bridge will remain in use during bridge construction.
Construction to raise the wall of the dam is due to start in 2023.
At the request of the community, Council undertook a detailed investigation of four options to provide continuing road access into the area after McCabe’s Bridge is inundated. The option preferred by the community was the cheapest, would result in the least environmental disturbance, harm to native flora and fauna and impact on areas of Aboriginal cultural significance and disruption to residents during construction.
The other options presented were for a new bridge on the existing alignment and two road options linking Doon Doon Road and Commissioners Creek Road. More information on all options can be found on the Raising Clarrie Hall Dam project page on Your Say Tweed.
Last week’s decision marks a milestone in the project, which kicked off on 10 December 2015 when Council resolved that ‘based on the information currently available, Council adopts the raising of the wall of the Clarrie Hall Dam as the preferred option for future water security and proceeds with the planning, approval and land acquisitions phase for the project’.
The Concept Design for raising the wall of the dam is being undertaken by New South Wales Public Works, which built the dam in 1982. Land acquisitions are continuing, with 60 per cent of the required purchases completed or under contract. Work has also begun to engage an independent consultant to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement. The process to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement will take about two years before it goes on public exhibition in mid-2020 for community comment.
By early 2021, the project will be set to face its final hurdle before construction begins after a second independent consultant assesses all documentation and public submissions and makes a recommendation to the Minister to proceed or terminate the project.
