Following recent inspections of the deck, girders and piers of the Scotts Creek Bridge on Manning Point Road, MidCoast Council has imposed a single-lane crossing and 15km/h speed limit on the bridge.
"Our engineers identified structural issues with the bridge supports last week and these types of issues are considered high risk so we need to minimise heavy loading as best we can," explained Scott Nicholson, MidCoast Council's Manager of Transport Assets.
"While we work on repair and remediation plans, we've made some important traffic changes to reduce further damage to the bridge and ensure the safety of all road users."
Under the recommendation of structural engineers a 15km/h speed limit has been introduced and traffic reduced to one lane via a set of traffic lights at each end of the bridge.
Council commended regular users of the bridge for their cooperation with changed traffic conditions so far.
"We first reduced the speed limit to 40km/h and compliance and understanding from the community was great," said Scott.
"We understand these new changes are an inconvenience but these are important and necessary safety measures."
Council will update the community as plans progress and work begins.
