Vicroads told: back to bridge drawing board

Jessica Benton
BARWON Heads will tell Vicroads to go back to the drawing board on plans to replace the town’s iconic bridge, according to a community group.
Friends of the Barwon Heads Bridge’s Bernard Napthine said residents had agreed at a public meeting on Wednesday night to lobby Vicroads for a third design.
“We’re now looking at two options to put forward to Vicroads in our submission,” he said
“Option A is modifying the current model and option B is trying to find a one-bridge solution.”
The Independent revealed last week that Vicroads planned to demolish the existing bridge after building a new river crossing for vehicles six metres downstream. The proposal included a separate bridge alongside for pedestrians and cyclists.
The new plan conflicted with a State Government pre-election promise to “save” the bridge.
Mr Napthine said the first option to emerge at Wednesday’s meeting sought relocation of the proposed footbridge upstream on the other side of the new bridge.
The option could damage wetlands protected under an international RAMSAR agreement but would have less impact on a sandy spit at the mouth of the Barwon River while avoiding cuts to car parking and beachfront under the Vicroads plan.
Mr Napthine said the second option would call for Vicroads to revert to its first proposal to upgrade the existing bridge.
“Imagine if we remade the old bridge but didn’t build the footbridge – we could have pedestrian walkways on both sides of a wider road bridge. The loss would be that you’d have a wider bridge but only one bridge.”
Residents at the meeting also raised concerns about the design and location of the Vicroads plan and the existing bridge.
John Bowman said the bridge no longer catered for population and traffic growth.
“At the time the original bridge was designed they wouldn’t have envisaged the amount of regional traffic using it now,” he said.
“If they had known the volume they would have built it somewhere else – the Geelong Road option.”
Chris Gordon said the proposed design and location could “murder” Barwon Heads.
“If this proposal goes ahead it will kill Barwon Heads because of all the heavy traffic rolling through the town,” he said.