Resident believes Breakaway Bridge should stay broken

MICHAEL Purcell has lived and worked in Acheron for all of his life. He was keen to express his opinion on the rebuilding of the Breakaway Bridge.

When the bridge was destroyed by the flood in October 2022, he felt quite emotional about the situation. “I was very disappointed with the shire’s lack of action on clearing the debris prior to the flood. They were contacted by countless residents in Acheron, time and time again.”

He said, “Nothing happened.” His understanding was that it was an OH&S issue, however he pointed out that for the previous 100 years it had been cleared by contractors on behalf of council. “Those outside contractors knew what they were doing,” he said.

Immediately prior to the flood, there was a large amount of vegetation including tree trunks against the bridge and when the flood came through, this held up the water, causing the northern buttress to erode.

“There was plenty of lead up where they [council] were notified of it,” he said. “And so like a lot of people, my reaction was annoyance at the council for lack of action.”

He’s concerned now about the issues which may occur if the bridge is reopened with no weight limits. The wooden bridge away was weight-limited in recent times, and single lane.

He said that a new bridge would put “heavy, fast, increased traffic flow into that area when it’s a minor agricultural service road. It’s not meant as a thoroughfare. The major thoroughfare exists currently, which is the Maroondah Highway that connects Alexandra to Acheron.”

He believes that council needs to limit traffic on minor agricultural service roads, such as…

Image: The debris built up beneath Breakaway Bridge on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, immediately prior to the October 2022 flood event.