An Open Letter to Dr Holland

Hi again,

This is from the Bermagui Community Forum. The Open Letter is a follow up to the meeting on Tuesday (photo above from About Regional report):

Cuttagee Bridge Restoration Group Outlines Actions
The Cuttagee Bridge Restoration group has followed up on Tuesday's public meeting supporting the need for action. The group made the following points in an open letter from Phil Coates to Dr Holland.
"Yesterday’s message was very clear from everyone - we don’t want a two-lane concrete bridge that has no regard for the existing bridge’s heritage. We would prefer that Cuttagee Bridge is rehabilitated as a single-lane bridge (because it is a traffic calming device) in much the same way as Transport for NSW achieved with Wallaga Lake Bridge (but we’re not saying that it has to be a timber bridge replacement). We understand the resilience argument that the main bridge super structure should be concrete and the bridge load limit increased ... And lastly, it is vital that you need to stop Council doing what they are doing- having already squandered $3m towards a plan that is undeliverable.
1. The Council’s decision is not compatible with the March 2023 election commitment to “repair and restore” the bridge and keep within the $15m grant funding;
2. A majority of the community do not support the Council’s option for a two-lane concrete bridge (ie. Option #3 and neither Options #1 & #2 because they ignore heritage values and are over engineered - no one wants to see B-Doubles/Semi’s using the Tourist Drive as a freight road);
3. A stop to the remaining $12m in State Government funding due to be paid to BVSC in 2026/27 under the Grant Funding Agreement (Agreement), for the currently proposed two-lane concrete replacement of Cuttagee Bridge. As this proposed bridge does not adequately meet the Agreement’s Clause 3.4 requirement of “compliance with the intent of the grant and community expectations” (Your March 2023 media release expressed intent was: “$15m to fund repairs to the Cuttagee Bridge reconstruction in alignment with heritage and other considerations”);
4. Having regard to Intervention 2: you put an abrupt stop to the Agreement and that the State Government intervenes through Transport for NSW (TfNSW) to take over the Cuttagee Bridge Renewal Project and in so doing relieve BVSC of this responsibility (and save our other historic single-lane predominantly timber bridges situated on the Tathra-Bermagui Road);
5. An urgent meeting is to be arranged between the design/construction engineers at TfNSW with our structural/heritage engineers Ken Murtagh/Partridge Remedial and Timber Restoration Services to start a fresh discussion and develop a realistic/affordable solution that satisfies all relevant stakeholders to drive the project forward (with the bridge drawings and plans/draft feasibility discussion to upgrade the bridge already provided to you by the Restoration of Cuttagee Bridge Group - taken as the basis for this discussion to share ideas and to reach a decision).
This could lead to an alliance contract arrangement between the respective industry experts and TfNSW."