Sheahan Bridge Upgrade

The project site is on the Hume Highway at Gundagai over the Murrumbidgee River and floodplain.

The Hume Highway is NSW's busiest road freight corridor and serves as a vital long-distance freight and light vehicle route between Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne, as well as linking to Adelaide and regional NSW.

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) developed a Performance Based Standards (PBS) Scheme in 2007 to better meet growing freight task demands.

By encouraging innovative combinations to improve freight efficiency, the PBS framework allows vehicles to carry more freight per vehicle. This allows for a reduced total heavy vehicles volume required to carry the same freight task. 

Providing appropriate supporting infrastructure is critical so these vehicles can safely and efficiently use designated corridors. 

The northbound Sheahan Bridge was opened in 1977 and was built to an older standard. Load capacity limitations are now in place which restrict Higher Productivity Vehicles (HPV) or vehicles greater than a B-Double running at Higher Mass Limits (HML).

The northbound bridge is the last bridge capacity restriction to allow larger and more efficient HPVs on the Hume Highway northbound between Victoria and Sydney. As a newer structure built to current standards, the southbound bridge has no such restrictions.

The Sheahan Bridge Upgrade project will investigate upgrade requirements and improvement options for the northbound bridge to allow higher productivity Performance Based Standards (PBS) vehicles to cross the Murrumbidgee River on the Hume Highway at Gundagai.

Providing higher standard infrastructure is critical so these vehicles can safely and efficiently use the Hume Highway corridor. 
The northbound Sheahan Bridge was opened in 1977 and was built to an older standard. Load capacity limitations are now in place which restrict some Higher Productivity Vehicles (HPVs) or vehicles running at Higher Mass Limits (HML).

The northbound bridge is the last bridge capacity restriction to allow larger and more efficient HPVs on the Hume Highway northbound between Victoria and Sydney. As a newer structure built to current standards, the southbound bridge has no such restrictions.

Various options will be investigated during the strategic assessment phase, including strengthening the current bridge and replacing the bridge. Replacement options may include a new bridge on the same alignment, or a new bridge upstream (east) or downstream (west) from the current bridge.

The early project development phase started in December 2022 with start-up activities including project planning and better understanding the bridge capacity issue. The second half of 2023 is expected to see professional services contractors developing bridge option design activities and early environmental and Aboriginal cultural heritage investigations.

A strategic assessment investigates the overall need for a project to be developed, develops strategic options and costs, identified a preferred option, and assesses the economic return an improved bridge can be expected to provide to ensure the project will provide value to the community.

A preferred option for an upgraded bridge has not yet been confirmed. However, the project has $20 million total committed joint funding from the NSW and Australian governments for planning for an upgraded northbound Sheahan Bridge. No funds have yet been committed by either government to bridge upgrade options.

Early planning is expected to be finished in late 2024. This will investigate bridge upgrade requirements and improvement options for the northbound bridge. When this is finalised, more detail on project timeframes will be developed depending on a preferred option.  We will keep the community updated.

There will be minimal, if any, impact to the community during early bridge project planning. There may be some traffic changes near the bridge if workers are required to be on site during the assessment. We will keep the community updated as the project moves forward and future stages are planned.

Current restrictions for heavy vehicles will remain in place to ensure heavy vehicles continue to use the bridge appropriately. Reduced speed limits on the northbound bridge will be required during maintenance work. The southbound bridge was opened in 2009 and is built to current standards and is not affected by any restrictions during normal traffic flow. When it is required, two-way traffic on the southbound bridge will require reduced speed limits to be in place.

The bridge was strengthened in the 1990s and with improvements in vehicle technology and ongoing monitoring, it is currently assessed to allow up to 85-tonne vehicles operating under certain conditions. 

Early project planning will now look at options to upgrade and improve the bridge to a standard which will carry all heavy vehicle types currently using, and proposed to be using, the Hume Highway corridor.

The northbound bridge was opened in 1977 and is nearing 50 years since it opened. Transport regularly inspects the bridge and carries out essential maintenance when required, which is expected with a bridge of this age.

Most maintenance is carried out under the bridge but sometimes the work requires closing the northbound bridge so work can be carried out safely and more efficiently.

This regular maintenance program ensures the bridge is maintained and remains safe.

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) developed a Performance Based Standards (PBS) Scheme in 2007 to better meet the demands of the growing freight task. The PBS framework allows vehicles to carry more freight per vehicle. PBS vehicles are generally longer than B-Double combinations, allowing an overall reduction in the number of heavy vehicles required to convey the nation’s growing freight task. The maximum unrestricted vehicle loading (without permit) on the bridge is an HML Prescriptive B-Double/PBS 2A.

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