WHAT WILL BE FINAL RESULT? An embarrassing eyesore for years, the Sandford Avenue railway bridge is finally to have some remedial work. But just how much is planned? lm070412sandfordbridge
IT’S taken years of stonewalling by successive governments, but finally work has been scheduled to upgrade the old railway bridge in Sandford Avenue.
Member for Bathurst Paul Toole yesterday announced repair and maintenance work on the Sandford Avenue railway bridge will begin early next month.
Included in the work will be remediation of another railway related site, where the electricity sub-station existed in Railway Parade.
“Work is scheduled to commence in early August,” Mr Toole said.
“Following advice received from the Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian I am delighted these works will be undertaken as for some time there has been concern raised by the council and the community in regards to the state and presentation of these facilities.
“As Lithgow has been the recipient of the Tidy Towns Award, civic pride is an integral part of the community and at last these sites have received attention that is long overdue.”
The contracts for these works have been tendered out by RailCorp in June and it is anticipated the necessary repair work will be undertaken during the next track possession which is scheduled for August 11 and 12.
So it appears just one weekend is allocated to complete both jobs, already raising concerns about the extent of what is proposed.
There is clearly no plan to widen the bridge to make it more usable for the Countrylink buses operating out of the Lithgow interchange.
The buses can not negotiate the narrow bridge without oncoming traffic being forced to give way.