Horsham Anzac Centenary Bridge completion delayed until February 2017 over steel structure quality

Work to assemble the pedestrian bridge will not resume until after Christmas after concerns about the quality of the steel in its pre-fabricated structure.

Horsham Rural City chief executive Peter Brown said he was confident the issue had been resolved.

“There have been some unforeseen delays, largely due to the contractor constructing the bridge offsite,” he said.

“Some of the steel procured wasn’t up to standard and so that’s delayed some of the assembly. 

“They had to re-procure the steel.

“We have reason to believe there has been progress.”

The first sod was turned on the $1.2 million project in November.

Works were also delayed in July after heavy rain prevented the concrete for the bridge’s foundations from being poured.

The bridge, when complete, will span the Wimmera River to Apex Island from Major Mitchell Drive.

Mr Brown said council staff had travelled to the pre-fabrication factory in Wangaratta in the past fortnight.

He said they observed that good progress had been made. 

“We have been visiting semi-regularly, so we believe that the contractor will start assembling the bridge on site after Christmas, early in the new year,” he said.

“It will be completed in February.”

Mr Brown said work on the pedestrian bridge’s concrete supports had been completed.

In May the Horsham RSL sub-branch and the Wimmera River Improvement Committee formally requested the word Anzac be incorporated into the bridge’s.

At that stage, the bridge was expected to be completed in 2015.

The bridge was named to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Australia’s involvement in the First World War in 1915, but will not be opened within the year it was named for.

Horsham Apex Club had proposed to build a playground on Apex Island but the budget for the intended project was cut by $330,000.

The Wimmera River Improvement Committee first discussed the concept of a shared pedestrian bridge across the Wimmera River in 2007. 

The winning design tender was for a suspension bridge with a central span of 75 metres, leaving river users such as rowers unhindered.