North Bourke Bridge loses its approaches

Both the northern and southern approaches to the historic North Bourke Bridge were demolished and removed last week. Photo TWH

The timber approaches of the iconic North Bourke Bridge have been demolished and are unlikely to be replaced.

The approaches were demolished last week by Sydney-based company Delany Civil P/L which was paid $413,000 to demolish the 15 span of timber approaches to the bridge on both sides of the lifting span.

Bourke Mayor Lachlan Ford said that the timber approaches to the bridge posed a major safety hazard to the public and had to be removed.

The level of decay is not a new issue, with public access to the bridge approaches barricaded off in 2016 after council ceased to maintain the structure.

While community sentiment is overwhelmingly one of disappointment, history suggests we may have been fortunate to keep them this long.

According to Leonie Brown, General Manager of Bourke Shire Council, the North Bourke Bridge was “mothballed” in 1997 when the Roads and Maritime Services decided that they were going to build the Gateway Bridge.

“At that time, they advised Bourke Shire Council that they would hand control and ownership of the North Bourke Bridge over to them. The Roads and Maritime Service were looking at complete removal of the bridge and of course, the council were against that,” Mrs Brown said.

“In the policy decision in 1997, the Council took responsibility for the bridge back from RMS and decided to restore it. At that time, it was intended to be used as a pedestrian bridge and give access to North Bourke.

“For some time, we haven’t had any pedestrian or cycle way access to North Bourke as the bridge was closed off due to its condition.”

“In 2023, Transport for New South Wales provided $400,000 to undertake a study with council contributing the rest of the money. We looked at how we could restore the bridge, and how we could upgrade the pedestrian access and walking path.” […]

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