End of the road for Seachange bridge

To many it’s just an old bridge, but to viewers of Seachange it’s a memorable location, and a long-running joke for the fictional characters of Pearl Bay.

And to the locals of Barwon Heads south of Geeling, Victoria, it’s part of the town’s history. But the days of the Barwon Heads Bridge appear to be over.

Heritage Victoria last year gave VicRoads the OK to knock down the historic 1927 timber bridge. VicRoads had decided that for safety purposes that the bridge linking the town with Ocean Grove would have to go.

The plan is to `reconstruct’ the bridge six metres downstream and build a 4.5 metre wide architecturally designed pedestrian bridge another 10 metres downstream. But it’s the pedestrian bridge that has the locals irate. Another key location stands nearby, now a popular local cafe.

“The second bridge will mean a loss of public beach,” says President of the Friends of the Barwon Heads Bridge, Bernard Napthine.

“It (the area, including the point of the river) is very fragile. Even if you don’t believe the full extent of climate change you’d have to say it’s rather silly to build infrastructure for 50 years on a delicate spot like that.

“The view from the bridge to the bluff and the bluff to the bridge is one of the most beautiful anywhere and they’re going to put this thing through the middle of it.”

Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans, surfers, campers and residents of Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove are expected to be among hundreds of people to turn out at the river from 1pm today.

“This is our eleventh-hour bid, if we can’t stir something up now then I think that it’s going to be all over,” he said.

“If the town’s not behind it, there’s not point in keeping going, it’s as simple as that.”

Don’t suppose VicRoads can get Bob Jelly (John Howard) to come back and blow it up?

Source: The Age