Violet Street bridge reopening delayed

THE reopening of Violet Street bridge will be delayed until mid-November while the project could experience cost increases, Narrabri Shire Council has announced.

The council issued an update earlier this week and cited difficult ground conditions encountered during piling due to the multimillion-dollar project’s delay.

“The project is now programmed to be finished and open to traffic in mid-November 2026, subject to weather conditions,” the council’s update read.

“Council is currently working with the project’s contractor on anticipated cost increases due to the adjusted program schedule.

“A report regarding these costs will be presented to councillors at next month’s ordinary council meeting.”

Despite the program adjustment, works are continuing at a steady pace, with installation of the precast pile caps for pier three and pier two as well as construction of the abutment on the Tibbereena Street side, the announcement read.

Steel fixing has also been completed for the abutment on the Selina Street side.

“Upcoming works for the remainder of this month will focus on construction of the pier two and pier three blade walls,” the update read.

“Next month will involve the construction and installation of the precast pile cap for the pier one pile group and the pier one blade wall, along with demolition of existing bridge piers.

“Construction of the headwalls for each pier will also take place, as will construction of Abutment A.

“September will see works move to the installation of bridge girders and construction of the bridge deck.”

The council said it thanks the local community for their patience and ongoing support of the project.

As previously reported, the new Violet Street bridge will have an unrestricted load capacity, catering for all vehicles.

It will also feature a separate shared pathway for pedestrians and cyclists on each side of the new structure, and decrease time required to remove barriers during flood events – reducing disruption times for residents and road users.

The $7m Violet Street bridge replacement project has been made possible with the contribution of $5m through the Infrastructure Betterment Program jointly funded by the Australian and NSW governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

The Australian government’s Roads to Recovery Program contributed the remaining $2m for the project.