On Wednesday evening they adopted the long-awaited 10-year Timber Bridge Rehabilitation and Renewal Program, possibly the biggest and most challenging infrastructure project ever undertaken.

The program will see the shire’s 85 remaining timber bridges either rehabilitated or renewed over the next 11 years at a cost of $29 million.

Cr Steve Klipin said it was satisfying to have a plan instead of “reacting when something happened”.

“And here we have it in a way that is understandable to the lay-person, like myself,” Cr Klipin said.

The Mayor, Dominic King, said prioritising of bridge work was now possible.

“We know that sudden bridge collapses cause a lot of angst … this way we can plan ahead for projects and also funding,” Cr King said.

Deputy General Manager Operations, Matt Fanning, said the first step had been the now-completed structural assessment process, which allowed informed prioritisation of work based on risk.

“We looked at the condition of the structures, existing load limits, the effects on industry, school bus routes and emergency services and whether there were alternative routes,” Mr Fanning said.

“Unfortunately this led to us load limiting 22 out of the remaining 85 timber bridges … this number has now dropped to 21 just this week with the completion of Picket Hill No.2 Bridge on Martells Rd. This bridge was completed in partnership with NSW Forestry Corporation, which is a great result and will hopefully lead to other such partnerships.”

He said the significant investment the program required would come from external funding, loan funding and a proposed three-year special rate variation of six per cent, which is currently on public exhibition as part of the updated Long Term Financial Plan and Delivery Program until January 26, 2018.

“This is a critical investment in our future and I feel sure that when the community sees this, they will support it. Importantly we now have the data needed to demonstrate our situation clearly to the State and Federal Governments when it comes to grant applications.

“We will start by rehabilitating bridges that are load limited because those restrictions have the biggest impacts.”

The council is currently waiting to hear whether it is successful in a one-off State/Federal grant for $5.5 million, which would go a long way to offsetting the cost of the renewal of the 23 timber bridges.

“We need to be very strong politically to get the financial support necessary … we are advocating for this at every possible opportunity because every grant dollar we get, reduces the impact on the community purse.”