One of the last of 33 bridges on the High Country Rail Trail is nearing completion!
The former 70 metre-long timber trestle bridge over Tallangatta Creek at Bullioh was washed away in the 2010 floods. Consistent with our philosophy to recycle and re-use, all the salvageable timber from this collapsed bridge was repurposed into restoring five other bridges on the Rail Trail.
With the increased severity of storms and floods that are a part of climate change, the degraded Tallangatta Creek has seen some significant floods in recent years, with debris washing down and into Lake Hume. Much of this flood debris would collect on the spans of the previous bridge, which were only four metres apart. Consequently, the new footbridge has been built at a higher elevation and with a single 30 metre span, meaning debris can flow freely underneath.
Thank you to Parks Victoria, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), and Towong Shire Council for their time and efforts undertaking the paperwork and processes to transfer land management responsibilities from Parks Victoria to Towong Shire Council, with ongoing maintenance support from Tallangatta Rail Trail Advisory Group and Parklands Albury Wodonga.
A big THANK YOU also to neighbours for their much-valued support in providing a lease of a 50 metre corridor of freehold land to enable safe public access along the rail trail corridor whilst we fundraised to replace this footbridge.
This priority community project was made possible with thanks to financial assistance from the Australian Government (Black Summer Bushfire Recovery program) and Towong Shire Council.
