LETTER: Diggers Bridge

Letter to the editor

Last updated:
Newsport reader Helen Walker says that since, it's decommission, and the construction of the new bridge, we have seen a decline in the old bridge's functionality. Image: Helen Walker

Dear editor,

I find myself writing to you once again about the sad state of affairs that is the old Diggers Bridge in Mowbray. As many of us know, this is a historically significant bridge. The old wooden bridge was built after the First World War by returned soldiers and the current bridge was rebuilt sometime in the 1940s.

It's a quaint setting and until recently was a popular location for newlyweds and their photographers. It was also a lovely place for local residents to go and flick a line or sit and watch falling leaves spiral into the flows and eddies of the river.

Since it's decommission, and the construction of the new bridge, we have seen a decline in the old bridge's functionality.

It has become classed as a foot bridge, hence the need for the metal railings and bollards and all manner of signage which have been erected.

While the railings offer a practical solution to the foot bridge's requirements for hand railings, after weathering from about two floods, the railings present as a major hazard and an impediment to its use. 

Please see the photographs attached, afterall, a picture tells a thousand words. The railings catch logs and debris from floods and the bridge is left inaccessible as a foot bridge for some time.

When all the logs and debris are eventually cleared, we are left with broken and collapsed railings. After many emails sent to the Douglas Shire Council about the bridge and its Bridges Renewal Program, the residents have seen no progress.

We understand that the Council has other fish to fry, but we have to question its eptitude when it cannot resolve what seems to be a relatively uncomplicated issue such as the one presented to it by this iconic bridge. 

Kind regards
Helen Walker, local resident


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