New Middlebrook Bridge Open

TODAY the new Middlebrook Bridge was officially opened, allowing local landholders to cross the bridge in trucks without holding their breath.

New Middlebrook Bridge: Hamish Henderson, Barnaby Joyce MP, Kylie Herden and Alan Henderson.

Barnaby Joyce, federal member for the seat of New England said the old timber bridge badly needed replacing.

“It was doing it tough towards the end, I think you’d have to say a prayer before you went over,” said Mr Joyce.

“Replacing the old timber bridge that had stood there for more than half a century means we can finally remove the load limit for heavy vehicles and provide a more direct route for producers and businesses using this road in the Upper Hunter,” he said.

“As you move local infrastructure ahead, you move the locally economy ahead,” Barnaby Joyce said.

Alan Henderson, a neighbouring property owner agreed.

“The load limit on the old bridge stopped us from taking our livestock direct from Scone,” said Mr Henderson.

“We used to have to send our stock or any heavier loads via Cressfield Road and back to Scone which is four times the distance,” he said.

“This fantastic, the old bridge was dying and we’ve seen some forty tonne loads go er it over the years and we used to watch it sag and we used to put a stick up against it to see how far it would go down and it would be seven or eight inches,” Alan Henderson said.

Kylie Herden who experienced issues with Council during the construction said she was glad the bridge was finished.

“It’s a lot safer especially when the highway is cut and this is used as a bypass,” said Ms Herden.

“There is still a lot of work to be done along the road there and we are yet to see a good rush of water to see how the design holds up along the road leading onto the bridge,” Kylie Herden said.

Related story: A Bridge Too Far.