A Bermagui businessman said maintaining the Cuttagee Bridge adds an hour each way every time he has to travel to the other side of the lake for work.
Steve Neilson from Neilson’s Earth Moving is sick and tired of delays by Bega Valley Shire Council to build a new two-lane concrete version.
Steve said most people don’t care about the State Government’s previous election promise to restore the much-loved existing historic timber bridge.
“I don’t think so. As long as the bridge gets built everyone will be happy, especially business owners like me,” Mr Neilson said.
“At the moment we can’t go through there because it’s load limited,” he said.
“A half hour trip takes me an hour and a half. I have to go right the way around the back, through the bush to get a machine in there. It’s ridiculous!”
The heavy machinery operator said construction of a new bridge over Cuttagee Lake can’t start quick enough.
Bega Valley Shire Council is working with the State Government to finalise a new funding deed which will cover the full cost of a two-lane concrete structure.
Steve said it is a better option than restoring the existing old timber crossing.
“To build a single lane timber bridge now is just outdated. It’s a thing of the past in my view. You’ve just gotta move on,” he said.
“They’ve got to get on with it. They’ve got to look to the future and all the population growth.
“You don’t build a little single lane timber bridge in this day and age when the population is just growing and growing and the traffic is getting busier. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
