Engineers Wood Research and Development have completed the detailed assessment of the Stewart Rd Bridge and have identified a number of structural damage issues.

The investigation report is expected to be produced by mid-April. Following the report, work on designing the repairs will start. When Council knows the nature of the repairs required, further updates will be provided.

The Engineers, Wood Research and Development (WRD) will be on-site at the Stewart Road bridge Tuesday March 25 to carry out the detailed inspection. The bridge is currently closed to all traffic. The inspection will determine the extent of damage and provide options for repairs. WRD are the leader in timber bridge testing and repairs: https://woodrandd.com/

Stewart Road, Kernot has been closed to all traffic at the Bass River because of structural concerns with the timber bridge.

The ends of the bridge are unsafe for all traffic. The bridge already has a 20 Tonne Load limit however, overloading by heavy vehicles has caused significant and rapid deterioration, making it unsafe for the safe passage of all vehicles at this time.

Detailed Engineering Investigations have been scheduled to assess the damage and provide options to re-instate traffic. More information about this will be available in the coming few weeks.

In the meantime, there will be a detour in place for through traffic:

Please note that access to properties will not be directly impacted. We apologise for the inconvenience to motorists and to the community affected by this detour, however Public Safety is our highest priority.