Nambucca council allocates $400,000 for a temporary side track at Little Motleys Bridge, if government agencies agree

The short answer. If you drive Rodeo Drive into Bowraville, the plan is that you will not lose the crossing for the whole rebuild. Nambucca Valley Council’s engineers say the new bridge will require the bridge to be closed to traffic for the duration of the works due to the bridge deck level being lifted, and they have costed a temporary side track beside it at about $400,000. The council has allocated that money. Two things still stand between the allocation and a side track: the council says it will need to consult with and obtain any necessary approvals or agreement from the relevant government agencies first, and even with a side track there will be short closures while the work is done.

What the council decided

Item 12.5 of the 23 September business paper, Bridge Betterment Program - Little Motleys Bridge, answered a request councillors made a month earlier. Its recommendation passed unchanged as resolution 303/26, moved by Cr Angel and seconded by Cr Jenvey: the council Allocates $400,000 from the Civil Works Reserve to fund the side track to Little Motleys Bridge during reconstruction work and will Return any unused funds to the Civil Works Reserve. Crs Angel, Ballangarry, Jenvey, Jones, Lee and MacSmith voted for it and nobody voted against. Crs Simson and Vance had leave for the meeting and Cr McWilliam is also listed under leave granted.

Before the item, Cr Jenvey declared a non-pecuniary, less significant conflict of interest, recorded in the minutes as being because Cr Jenvey would be impacted from accessing Bowraville if the bridge was closed. Cr Jenvey voted on the item. The minutes are a draft until the council confirms them on 28 October.

From request to rebuild

1. Feb and Mar 2022Severe weather and flooding that the betterment program responds to.
2. 26 Aug 2026Councillors ask for a report on a bypass lane and its cost (resolution 244/26, 8 votes to 0).
3. 15 Sep 2026Status note: Meeting was held on site to discuss possible bypass options.
4. 23 Sep 2026Up to $400,000 allocated for the side track (resolution 303/26, 6 votes to 0).
5. Feb 2027The council’s estimated start of construction. Agency agreement needed before the side track proceeds.

What a side track buys, and what it does not

The report’s case is the detour. Closing the bridge would normally require traffic to use an alternative route, resulting in a significant detour for the local community and road users, and the report adds that Given the current works being undertaken at Macksville Bridge, the availability and practicality of alternative routes are also reduced. The side track would go on the northern side of the bridge, to allow traffic to continue to cross the creek while the existing bridge is reconstructed.

It is not a promise of uninterrupted access, and the report says so plainly.

The side track, in the report’s words

What it would do

avoid the need for the full detour for the majority of the bridge reconstruction period and provide continued local connectivity while the works are undertaken

What it would not do

Access across the side track would still be temporarily disrupted to facilitate activities such as concrete pouring, crane operations and approach road tie-ins.

Who pays

On the report’s account, the $400,000 is a ceiling and a fallback. It says Infrastructure Services will first seek to fund the works from savings within the Little Motleys Bridge project and/or relevant program savings, including through the anticipated reduced requirement to utilise project contingency. The reserve money is there, it says, to ensure the side track can proceed if sufficient savings are not identified within the existing project and program budgets. Its financial implications section says: There is expected to be additional costs associated with the project.

The order the money is meant to come from

1. Savings inside the Little Motleys Bridge project, including any contingency it does not need.
2. Savings elsewhere in the bridge program.
3. If those fall short: up to $400,000 from the council’s Civil Works Reserve.
4. Anything not spent goes back to the reserve.

The approval step matters because this is not only the council’s money. The report calls the side track a change to the current project scope and says agreement is needed in relation to the proposed scope change, funding arrangements and any associated regulatory or approval requirements. Its risk table lists State Government Approval Delay as low likelihood, medium impact. The report does not name the agencies.

One of six bridges

Little Motleys is the only one of six crossings not yet under construction in what the council calls the Betterment of Nambucca Valley Council River Crossings Program, which replaces ageing and vulnerable timber bridges with stronger, higher and more resilient structures. The council’s project page says the program is funded through the jointly funded Australian and NSW Government Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements and the Regional Roads and Transport Recovery Package, with $9.98 million provided to Nambucca Valley Council, and that it follows the floods of February and March 2022. The new bridges get stronger concrete structures, increased deck lengths, higher clearances over waterways and improvements to the associated road approaches. The report’s reason for the full closure, a deck being lifted, fits that brief.

Six timber bridges, one still to start

The council’s list, as at 7 October 2026

Way Way BridgeWay Way Creek Road, Way WayUnder way

Roberts BridgeNaylors Lane, Upper Taylors ArmUnder way

Sullivans BridgeSullivans Road, VallaUnder way

Cassidys BridgeWirrimbi Road, Newee CreekUnder way

Browns Crossing No. 1Browns Crossing Road, Warrell CreekUnder way

Little Motley BridgeRodeo Drive, BowravilleEst. start Feb 2027

The page warns that road closure dates and construction programs are subject to change due to weather, and unexpected construction issues, so February 2027 is an estimate, not a fixed date.

Why Bowraville asked

The request came from a notice of motion by Cr Jenvey at the 26 August meeting. The motion did not argue against the rebuild. It opened: Building Back Better after flooding to fix deteriorating and damaged bridge assets with disaster funding makes for good economic management in a climate constrained world. Its objection was to the closures stacking up around one town.

enduring a second road closure along Rodeo Drive at Little Motleys Bridge, Bowraville for another four months, after the closure of Wirrimbi Road at Cassidy’s Bridge will have compounding impacts on the town of Bowraville.

The motion called that too lengthy a hardship for road-users going to Nambucca and too much of an economic cost to businesses in Bowraville due to a lack of accessibility, and noted that because the bridge is not scheduled for a rebuild until February 2027, Council has the time to plan and cost a bypass. Eight councillors voted for the report and none against. Four weeks later the side track was costed and the money allocated.

Our view

This is a council doing the obvious thing well and quickly: a request in August, an on-site look in mid-September, a costed option and a vote in the same month, and a funding order that tries the project’s own savings before the reserve. For a town already living with the closure at Cassidy’s Bridge, on the motion’s account, a crossing kept open for most of a rebuild is worth a lot more than its line in the budget.

What the papers leave out is what a Bowraville driver would most want to know: how long the bridge would be shut without the side track, how many days the side track itself would close for pours and crane lifts, and whether the agencies funding the program have agreed to the change. The report also does not give the bridge’s own budget, so readers cannot judge how likely it is that savings, rather than the reserve, cover the $400,000. Those are all answerable before February, and the useful next update from the council would answer them.