By Callum Ludwig
The McMahons Creek and Reefton community are elated following the announcement their pedestrian bridge across McMahons Creek will be restored.
The bridge was removed in 2017, meaning residents had to walk by on the shoulder of Woods Point Rd to get to different parts of the community.
The Reefton McMahons Creek Action Group (RMAG) representative Ian Brownlie said there was a lot of frustration from the community during the five-year wait for the return of the pedestrian bridge.
“We wondered whether it was worth all the effort, whether it will ever happen at all,” he said.
“But our momentum kept going with the group even though it was really hard to keep the enthusiasm going to maintain that as a number one focus.”
RMAG had been advocating for the bridge to be replaced ever since VicRoads decided it was not structurally sound.
A number of stopgap solutions were put in place which didn’t resolve the issue, including a failed attempt to prop up the original steel piles and a drop-off point for kids to be dropped off by school bus which was not satisfactory.
Notably, the footbridge was the safest way to cross the creek for school children and visitors to the Reefton hotel, leaving only the 80km per hour road bridge without it.
During this time, small collisions with the guard rail alongside the road bridge left a few dents which only further indicated that an accident, while someone was walking alongside the road, was very possible.
The announcement of the restoration pleased many concerned parties involved in the issue, and Mr Brownlie said it was a team effort to achieve.
“Between RMAG and the community here, we’ve made representations to the council.We had Cindy McLeish on our side, the police have made comments about the unsafe nature of it, the bus drivers and bus companies supported us fully,” he said.
“We’ve even been on ABC Radio.”
The Reefton community expressed in a transport survey they also do not approve of the turn-offs on Woods Point Rd to Upper Yarra Dam Rd, which give precedence to Upper Yarra Dam Rd and the trucks coming in and out of it, rather than the larger number of road users traveling along Woods Point Rd.
