erskine bridge
The pedestrian crossing of the Bremer River has been identified as a high priority for residents of Callington. It is included as an action in the endorsed Callington Township Plan.
The crossing is a joint responsibility of the Rural City of Murray Bridge and Mount Barker District Council as the Bremer River forms the boundary between the two council areas.
Options for pedestrian access across the Bremer River at Callington were reviewed by Council Members at an Informal Gathering on 29 November 2021.
An update on the options was provided to the 7 March 2022 Council meeting with Council resolving to:
- endorse community engagement on the traffic light solution, to be located on the existing Erskine Bridge, as the preferred option to provide safe and convenient pedestrian passage across the Bremer River, subject to the Rural City of Murray Bridge endorsing the same; and
- note that a further report will be provided to Council on completion of community engagement with a view to seeking final endorsement of the preferred option.
A traffic light solution was a preferred option for community engagement as it provided the following advantages:
- Provides a controlled dual use of the existing bridge for vehicles access as well as pedestrian access, increasing use of the existing asset.
- Estimated cost is within the original anticipated budget and represented best value for money..
- Lights only activated when vehicle/pedestrian is present.
- There are no detrimental impacts on the river environment and vegetation as no works are required in these areas to install the lights.
- The traffic light solution included minimal infrastructure and thus represented a minimal carbon footprint and no impacts to the river environment. Can be solar/battery powered which can be explored further during detail design.
Community engagement was undertaken from March to July 2022.
In summary, the crossing options were discussed in detail and there was limited interest in the traffic light solution resulting in unanimous support for a separate pedestrian bridge.
The concept design work for a stand-alone bridge is largely complete and previous cost estimates to construct a bridge of this nature is circa $1 million (excl. GST).
Pending endorsement from both Rural City of Murray Bridge and Mount Barker District Council, officers from both Councils will formalise a joint project team to further investigate and plan for a stand-alone bridge for pedestrian access across the Bremer River at Callington in readiness for future budget consideration by both Councils and grant funding opportunities.