Timber Truss Road BridgesA strategic approach to conservation Bridge list update

BackgroundThe NSW Government manages most of the state’s remaining timber truss road bridges. These bridges have high individual and collective heritage significance because of impact they had on the state’s economic and population development and the world leading bridge design they exhibited at the time of their construction.

In 2012 the NSW Government published the Timber Truss Road Bridges – A Strategic Approach to Conservation (the Strategy) following endorsement by the Heritage Council of NSW and public consultation. The Strategy recognises the important part timber truss road bridges played in shaping NSW and the need for this history to be preserved.

The Bridges for the Bush initiative has supported the implementation of the Strategy with upgrades to nine timber truss bridges to conserve their heritage value and improve their safety and service to the community.

What’s changing?The government is committed to keeping our timber truss bridges safe, strong and serviceable. The list of bridges recognised within the Strategy has been reviewed and updated based on experience gained over the past six years in implementing the Strategy.

Seven bridges which are not able to be upgraded to service the future road network and meet the needs of their communities will now be removed. Eight other bridges which are good examples of their type will be retained in their place.

The new list of bridges for retention provides the best mix of bridges to achieve a balanced mix of the diversity of timber truss styles that function as part of the road network and the communities they service.

Abercombie Bridge, Abercombie River, south of Bathurst. Allan truss bridge

Additional bridges to be retained under Strategy

Bridge nameTruss type Location Council

State Heritage Listed?

Abercrombie Allan 70' & 90'

Abercrombie River, South of Bathurst, Goulburn Road

Bathurst Regional no

Beckers De Burgh 91’

Webber’s Creek at Dunn’s Crossing, Mount Thorley – Gresford

Singleton yes

Bulga Dare 104'

Wollombi Brook, Putty Road Singleton yes

Cooreei Dare 91'

Williams River at Dungog, Stroud Hill Road Dungog yes

Crankies McDonald 75'

Coolumbooka River at Crankies Plains, Cathcart Road

Snowy Mountains Regional yes

Gillies De Burgh 70'

Wilderness Road over Black Creek near Rothbury

Cessnock no

Junction, Rouchel Brook

Dare 70' Rouchel Road near Upper Rouchel (near Scone)

Upper Hunter no

Tooleybuc Allan 70' Murray River at Tooleybuc, Tooleybuc Road Murray River, NSW and Swan Hill Rural City, Victoria

yes

Bridges to be removed from the listing in the Strategy and removed from service

Bridge nameTruss type Location Council

State Heritage Listed?

Carrathool Allan 70' Murrumbidgee River, Carrathool – Carrathool Road

Carrathool and Murrumbidgee

yes

Cobram De Burgh 104'

Murray River at Barooga, Berrigan – Cobram

Berrigan, NSW and Moira: Victoria

yes

Colemans Dare 104'

Leycester Creek at Lismore, Union Street Lismore yes

Paytens Allan 90' Collets Crossing, Lachlan River near Forbes – Paytens Bridge Road

Forbes no

Rawsonville Dare 91' Minore, Macquarie River, Mitchell Hwy – Rawson

Dubbo no

Swan Hill Allan 90' Murray River at Swan Hill, Swan Hill Road Murray River, NSW and Swan Hill Rural City, Victoria

yes

Warroo Dare 70'

Lachlan River, Condobolin – Warroo Forbes no

Old PWD truss bridge at St Albans prior to the current de Burgh truss bridge.

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Tooleybuc Bridge

Swan Hill Bridge

Barham Bridge

Cobram Bridge

Carrathool Bridge

Wee Jasper Bridge

Junction Bridge

Crankies Plains

New Buildings Bridges

Rossi Bridge

Abercrombie Bridge

Victoria Bridge

Galston Gorge

St Albans Bridge

McKanes Bridge

Paytens Bridge

Warroo Bridge

Scabbing Flat

Wallaby Rocks

Rawsonville BridgeBeryl Bridge

Morpeth Bridge

Gillies BridgeHinton Bridge

Dunmore Bridge

Clarence Town Bridge

Coorei Bridge

Monkerai Bridge

Junction Bridge

Beckers Bridge

Glennies Creek

Bulga Bridge

Briner Bridge

Colemans Bridge

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KEYbridges with no change

bridges newly retained

bridges to be removal from list

Bridges proposed to be retained and removed under the review

Victoria Bridge, Stonequarry Creek, Picton. Allan truss bridge.

Monkerai Bridge

Galston Gorge Bridge

Morpeth Bridge

Beckers Bridge

Bulga Bridge

Old Public Works Department trusses, (Old PWD) trusses, built from 1858 to 1886. These bridges were designed by William Christopher Bennett (1824–1889), and are an example of innovative and practical engineering in a time when large and long timbers were readily available and vast numbers of bridges were being built.

McDonald trusses, built from 1886 to 1893. These bridges were designed by John Alexander McDonald (1856–1930) to address the increasing weight of heavy loads being transported on NSW roads, and to take advantage of the extensive testing of timber properties which had occurred at the University of Sydney in 1886.

Allan trusses, built from 1893 to 1929. These bridges were designed by Percy Allan (1861–1930) to address the fact that the large and long timbers required for the Old PWD and McDonald truss designs were no longer readily available. Allan also introduced innovations aimed at improving the ease of maintenance of timber bridges.

De Burgh trusses, built from 1899 to 1905. These bridges were designed by Ernest Macartney de Burgh (1863–1929) to address the fact that materials other than timber had become increasingly available and economical. The de Burgh truss includes the greatest variety of materials found in any of the NSW timber truss bridges.

Dare trusses, built from 1905 to 1936. These bridges were designed by Henry Harvey Dare (1867–1949), and have the simplest geometry to allow the easiest replacement of individual timbers of any of the five truss types.

Timber Truss Road Bridges

Identifying the best bridge candidates for conservationTransport for NSW and heritage experts considered both operational and heritage criteria to identify which timber truss bridges had the fewest operational constraints and the highest level of heritage significance.

The 2012 assessment identified 26 timber truss road bridges that met or could be upgraded to meet the operational needs of the communities they service. In 2019, based on the lessons from six years of implementation, seven of the originally identified bridges were removed from the list of retained bridges and replaced with eight newly assessed bridges. The bridges now listed in the Strategy reflect the history and diversity of timber truss styles while balancing the current and future transport needs and heritage conservation.

What do the changes mean for the bridges? The bridges added to the retained list will be progressively added to the State Heritage Register (if not already listed), and restored and upgraded as necessary to meet the ongoing transportation needs of local and regional communities, while also conserving heritage significance.

Those bridges that have been removed from the list will be progressively replaced and removed, with appropriate heritage interpretation being installed.

Managing these bridgesSince the Strategy was developed, considerable work has been done on better understanding the structural capabilities of the various different truss types and strengthening methods available which conserve heritage values while also providing adequate capacity and meeting road safety standards. Because of this recent work, some bridges previously considered unviable can now be made viable for retention with suitable heritage sympathetic strengthening works carried out to ensure operability.

The review of the list of bridges to be kept has been done to ensure the retained bridges can continue to fulfil network requirements. Bridges must provide safe access for all users, including pedestrians, car drivers, agricultural vehicles and freight.

Meeting the needs of those that use the bridges is central to the continuing role and use of the bridges within their communities.

All bridges for retention are able to be sympathetically upgraded and strengthened to accommodate network safety and operational needs without compromising their state heritage values.

Bridge typesFive types of timber truss road bridges were built in NSW from the 1860s to 1936, Old Public Works (Bennett), McDonald, Allan, De Burgh and Dare, named after the Engineers who designed the truss type. Each type of bridge truss represents a technical advance in timber bridge design. Bridges were built with varying numbers of truss spans depending on the crossing length and often also incorporated timber approach spans. They were built from timber as it was a local and readily available material. These were often later replaced by metal or concrete bridges as these materials became cheaper and more available.

The changes to the list of bridges retains the diversity of bridge truss types with representatives of all five extant types. It also provides, where possible, representatives of different truss lengths and configurations.

Beckers Bridge, Webber’s Creek at Dunns Crossing. De Burgh truss bridge.

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October 2019 RMS.19.1425

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Contact usIf you have any questions or would like more on the timber truss road bridges please visit the website. please contact our project team:

www.rms.nsw.gov.au

Crankies Bridge over Coolumbooka River at Crankies Plains

Cooreei Bridge, Williams River at Dungog. Dare truss bridge.