Soaring construction costs hitting council bridge renewal programs

Councils are responsible for large parts of the state's road and bridge network, which is also managed by the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning.

Transport operators and farmers say they are hamstrung by the number of load limits on bridges and culverts, restricting the use of high productivity freight vehicles.

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Wellington Shire Council successfully applied to the Federal Bridges Renewal Programme for a total project budget of $660,000 to strengthen the Delta bridge, Briagolong, to its original 60 tonne load limit.

But Wellington's Natural and Built Environment general manager Chris Hastie said the lowest tender for the work on the bridge, originally constructed in 1970, was $1.3 million.

The shire undertook a bridge assessment in 2021 and downgraded the load limit to 35 tonnes.

Mr Hastie said the bridge is part of the Valencia - Creek Briagolong Road, identified as part of the Oversize and Overmass network used by both local and regional industry.

Mr Hastie said the load limit created a 22-kilometre detour for larger vehicles, which resulted in increased costs and impact on the environment.

There was a "huge" lack of competition among specialists companies who could carry out bridge construction and repairs.

"Usually we are getting three, or four, or five tenders, now we are getting one or two," he said.

Construction companies had "plenty of work on", after significant investment from the federal government in infrastructure projects.

"You also have concrete components and the companies know absolutely there is very little competition for their work, so they jack up their prices," he said.

The shire's Built Environment acting manager Zac Elliman said the council had been looking to upgrade Delta Bridge to support local dairy and beef producers, as well as timber contractors.

"Because tenders for this work came in well above the available budget and as such, council was not able to progress with the project at this time," he said.

"Council officers will re-apply to a future round of the federal governments Bridges Renewal Program to assist with funding of this important project."

In Pyrenees shire, Assets and Development manager Douglas Gowans said the local authority was responsible for 150 bridges and 2000 kilometres of road,

"Of that 150 we have about 30 that are under consideration for load limiting, so basically that prevents them from being used by higher mass, higher productivity vehicles," he said.

"We need to consider those on an individual application basis, rather than just opening up dedicated routes without the need for permits.

"Some of those bridges aren't really at the end of their useful life so the question is whether or not they really need to be upgraded for the purpose of providing a higher level of service?

"The question becomes is that really the responsibility of the ratepayers of the shire, isn't that more a state and federal responsibility?"

Mr Gowans said the average cost for a bridge improvement project was between $600000-800,000.

"When you multiply that by 150 bridges that becomes quite a big impost on us, as an asset manager," he said. "For a small rural shire, of 7000 people, that puts a lot of rate burden on only a few."

Pyrenees would argue for a higher percentage of Federal Assistance Grants to be directed to small shires, with a high asset load.

Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of Victoria vice president Angus Karger, Bordertown Haulage and Trading, SA, said bridges that had load limits throughout the state were marked with a red dot, on maps.

"That map is like chicken pox," Mr Karger said.

"All those red dots are a major issue, because they are only 68.5 tonnes, that's B-double weight.

"People aren't going and buying new B-Doubles, they are buying brand new A-Doubles - there is more load they can tow, behind the same prime mover and that one driver.

"There is 33-35 per cent more payload, behind the same prime mover, that means less trucks to get the job done".

But he said the authorities, particularly the DoTP were applying too conservative an approach to bridge assessments

"Their excuse is all Victorian bridges are built to a different standard to the rest of the country," he said.

"I understand if there is a red bridge on there that is made of temporary materials, or its wood and it's 500 years old, but if it's on a major route, not a back track, do something about it."

He said VicRoads authorities needed to provide detour routes, around bridges that genuinely needed load limits.

"You look on the NSW maps, there are virtually no red dots whatsoever for the same combinations," he said.

Council road managers were more adaptable than the DoTP, he said.

"Council can get back to you within a month - VicRoads assessments can cost a lot of money and take six months," he said.

National Heavy Vehicle Regulator Access manager Rochelle Matthews said customers with High Productivity Freight Vehicles could submit permit application for a fee of $78.

"There is also a National Class 2 Performance Based Standards (High Productivity) Authorisation Notice available for eligible HPVs to operate on approved networks in New South Wales and Victoria, without a permit and subject to conditions," she said.

"State and local government managers are responsible for providing consent to allow restricted access vehicles such as HPVs on their roads and can apply conditions that must be met.

"The NHVR cannot let a customer know of an access decision until all consents from road managers and other transport authorities have been received".