Geotechnical investigations set to begin in May
Geotechnical investigations around Mundarlo Bridge as part of the Mundarlo Bridge replacement project will begin on the week commencing Monday 19 May 2025.
This will involve using a crane to lift a barge and drilling rig into and out of the Murrumbidgee River as part of assessing the riverbed.
Changes to traffic conditions
To ensure the safety of residents, road users and the works team while the barge equipment is being lifted in and out of the river, Tenandra Road and the bridge area will be temporary closed for approximately an hour at a time.
Outside of these times, the road and bridge will remain open to traffic with traffic control measures in place. Electronic notice boards have been placed either side of the bridge to alert road users.
Find out moreAbout the Mundarlo Bridge project
The Mundarlo (or Tenandra Road) Bridge is a low-level single lane bridge located around 40km from Gundagai and approximately 60km from Wagga Wagga.
In addition to being a constraint to river flows, flows above 32,000ML/day (5.01m) at Gundagai result in inundation of the bridge, which has been overtopped on several occasions in recent years.
This has caused significant road closures and disruptions to local traffic, with detours of 120km necessary. This negatively impacts the communities relying on the road to get to work, get their kids to school and to manage their business/farming operations.
Upgrading this site would protect against high river flows and provide substantial benefit to the local community, due to less disruption. It will also have significant economic benefits by improving heavy traffic flows and access and by reducing maintenance and clean-up costs into the future.
Due to the social, economic and environmental importance of the bridge, it is being prioritised for replacement separate to the wider Reconnecting River Country Program.
The project is fully funded by the Australian Government for delivery by December 2026.
Scope of works
The program is progressing the design and construction of a new, higher replacement bridge, as well as a realignment of approach roads.
The new bridge will be an upgrade from the current one-lane bridge to a two-lane bridge with capacity to accommodate heavy vehicles, including farm machinery and B-double trucks. It is anticipated the new bridge will be approximately 110m long and will be situated just upstream of the existing bridge.
The new bridge will be designed to mitigate against flows up to 45,000ML/day at Gundagai.
The tile below links to the indicative location for the replacement bridge. However, this may change based on site investigations and recommendations made by the design team.
Download this map (PDF. 259KB)
The benefits of the new bridge will include:
- less overtopping in times of higher flows, resulting in less disruption to local communities
- less servicing and maintenance of new infrastructure
- less maintenance/clean-up costs as higher flows will overtop the bridge less frequently
- improved traffic flow for cars, farm machinery and trucks.
Project activities
The department’s Water Group will lead the delivery of the Mundarlo Bridge replacement project with the involvement of local council staff.
Specific activities include:
- continuing to work with local councils
- progressing concept design and preliminary bridge designs
- modelling and geotechnical investigations
- conducting topographical and property boundary surveys
- reviewing environmental factors, including conducting biodiversity and cultural heritage assessments
- completion of detailed design and procurement of contractor for construction
- construction of new infrastructure, commissioning and handover to asset owner
- ongoing stakeholder engagement.
Stakeholder and community engagement
The Water Group is committed to building and maintaining respectful, trusted and collaborative relationships with our communities and stakeholders to ensure water infrastructure projects achieve the best possible outcomes.
Once developed, we will engage with, and seek feedback from, landholders, local communities, First Nations people and other stakeholders on the concept designs for the project before progressing to preliminary design.
We will provide opportunities for our local communities and stakeholders to have their say on the project throughout development and delivery.
Contact us
For more information call us on 1300 081 047 or email us at: water.enquiries@dpie.nsw.gov.au