Strathbogie Shire Council has engaged specialised heritage consultants to support a case to present to Heritage Victoria on the future of the 132-year-old Kirwans Bridge near Nagambie.
Council has set aside $100,000 for the investigation and necessary reports in order to make a presentation to Heritage Victoria
The information provided by the consultants was being used in an engineering brief which was required to support any future actions approved by Heritage Victoria.
Over the past year, the 10-member community panel has looked at various options including keeping the heritage bridge as the main crossing or reserving it for cyclists and pedestrians and installing a separate vehicle bridge over the Goulburn River.
Strathbogie Shire Mayor Laura Binks said having input from the dedicated community panel who have ‘lived experiences’ with the bridge was important.
“The panel members understand how important it is to develop a case for each of the options presented,” she said.
Community panel chair Darren Lyons said a full engineering investigation report was required before any decisions on the future of the bridge could be completed and then presented along with the heritage implications to Heritage Victoria.
“While the process is quite time-consuming, this means that we will end up with the best outcome for our community in the end,” he said.
The Kirwans Bridge Community Panel will receive a presentation of the engineering report before it was incorporated in a presentation to Heritage Victoria in 2023.