Violet Street bridge upgrade budget amended

Narrabri Shire Council has adopted an amended budget for the $7m replacement of the Violet Street bridge following a project delay.

The council had previously announced the completion of the bridge would be delayed after piling works had taken longer than anticipated.

Variations to the project has meant that additional costs will come from a $400,000 contingency allocated towards the project.

At last week’s meeting, councillors were informed that the contractor had been on-site for eight weeks longer than expected with the variation for time and costs amounting to $498,131.

The last pile for the foundations was driven on 23 June.

Last week’s meeting business paper explains that the driving of the piles for the bridge foundation is the component of the project that has the greatest risk associated with it from a time and cost perspective because of unknown or unforeseen issues.

Shire infrastructure director Warren Faulkner told the meeting the project would be bitumen sealed rather than asphalt, representing a cost difference of almost $180,000.

The council was considering the two options for the project, but the cost variation meant that asphalt was no longer a suitable option.

Mr Faulkner was queried about the benefits of each and indicated to councillors there was no considerable difference.

Renewal works for a water main had originally formed part of the project, but will now be costed from the Water Fund reserve.

Mr Faulkner explained that the water main, which runs across the bridge connecting Selina Street with Tibbereena Street, had been built in 1974.

“We’re proposing that it should be funded out of the Water Fund rather than by the project now that the project doesn’t have sufficient funds,” he told the meeting.

Cr Greg Lamont queried the impact on the project by a workplace incident early in its development.

Mr Faulkner said the extra costs had come as a result of the issues with the piling works.

“There was no cost associated with that for the council,” Mr Faulkner said of the workplace incident.

Cr Lamont also acknowledged that the bridge was in need of repairs.