Barrington Bridge

Transport for NSW is preparing to remove the old Barrington Bridge and invited the community to comment on the Review of Environmental Factors (REF) for the proposal in October 2020.

Transport would like to thank the community and stakeholders for taking the time to comment on our proposal. We received twelve submissions, which we have carefully considered and have prepared a submissions report that summarises and provides responses to the feedback that was received. View or download the submissions report (PDF, 1.18Mb).

Barrington Bridge was built in 1920 and is located on Thunderbolts Way, which is an important freight link between the Mid North Coast and the New England Tablelands serving tourism, livestock and timber industries.

The timber bridge is one of the bridges identified for replacement in the Transport for NSW Timber Truss Bridge Conservation Strategy, which was developed in consultation with the Heritage Council of NSW.

The strategy was developed to address the long term management of these structures and aims to establish a balance between infrastructure provision and heritage conservation. The strategy was displayed for stakeholder and community comment in 2011. The feedback received was considered in finalising the strategy and identifying bridges for replacement and conservation. The strategy was reviewed by Transport for NSW and the Heritage Council of NSW in 2019 and Barrington Bridge remained on the list of bridges to be replaced.

In March 2018, Transport for NSW prepared and publicly displayed a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) for the construction of the new bridge. Construction has since taken place with the new bridge opened in May 2020.

Removing the old bridge would reduce environmental impacts and ongoing maintenance costs, and would prevent safety risks associated with the weathering and deterioration of the old structure.

Transport acknowledges that the old Barrington Bridge is of historical importance to the local community and is committed to honouring the memory of the bridge.

As part of honouring the memory of the bridge, Transport is developing a plan for heritage interpretation of the old bridge at the site. Heritage interpretation would include installation of interpretive signage and display of bridge artefacts at the site. In addition we are exploring the provision of picnic facilities near the new bridge.

Transport has already recorded and archived information about the old, bridge including 3D mapping, laser scanning and drone photogrammetry.

• improve safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists
• improve reliability for motorists, including freights
• increase road freight productivity in the Barrington, Gloucester and surrounding areas

Transport has considered the information in the REF for removal of the old Barrington Bridge as well as the submissions received from the community and has decided to proceed with the proposal to remove the old bridge.

Transport will continue to keep the community and stakeholders informed as the project progresses.

October 2020 project notification
Have your say.

• February 2019 project notification (PDF, 36.21 KB)
• October 2018 Community notification (PDF, 106.72 KB)

• October 2020 Review of Environmental Factors main report
• March 2018 Review of Environmental Factors main report (PDF, 11.56 MB)
• March 2018 Review of Environmental Factors appendices A - G (PDF, 28.54 MB)
• March 2018 Review of Environmental Factors appendices H -L (PDF, 32.1 MB)
• June 2021 Submissions report
• September 2018 Submissions report

• 29 May 2020 New Barrington Bridge open to traffic