The historic Sandy Creek Inlet Bridge will be rebuilt for walking and cycling as part of a $1.35 million upgrade to link up parts of the High Country Rail Trail in Victoria’s north.
In Wodonga today to brief community leaders on the Brumby Labor Government's $631 million Ready for Tomorrow: A Blueprint for Regional and Rural Victoria, Regional and Rural Development Minister Jacinta Allan said the High Country Rail Trail – Sandy Creek Bridge project would fill the missing link in the 43-kilometre High Country Rail Trail, which runs from Wodonga to Cudgewa.
“The old Sandy Creek Bridge, an impressively long and tall bridge which spans Lake Hume, was built between 1930 and 1933 and is one of the highest rail bridges in Victoria,” Ms Allan said.
"Its thirty 12-metre high concrete pylons are excellent foundations for a new lease on life as a scenic off-road walking and cycling trail.
“This project will offer stunning views across Lake Hume, complete the High Country Rail Trail and become a must-see nature tourism experience in Victoria.”
Ms Allan said the project would include:
Re-decking the bridge, including 31 long support beams;
- Provision of handrails;
- Installation of observation decks at both ends;
- Bridge access and trail upgrades; and
- Creation of a car and bus park.
Rail trails were a major tourism driver in Victoria’s north-east and increasingly popular for affordable family holidays, Ms Allan said.
“The Sandy Creek Bridge project will complement the network of rail trails in North East Victoria offering a high quality cycling tourism experience, such as the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail,” she said.
“It will encourage tourism and boost local economic growth, providing stimulus for tourism operators to invest in upgrading and new infrastructure and activities in the Lake Hume area.”
Member for Northern Victoria Kaye Darveniza said works on the bridge would create six new jobs during construction.
She added that the funding for the Sandy Creek Bridge would be part of a wider strategy to develop rail trails across the state.
Ms Allan said the Brumby Labor Government’s Regional Infrastructure Development Fund had, from today, committed $611 million to 393 projects worth more than $1.6 billion across regional and rural Victoria.
Meanwhile, Ms Allan said her visit to north-east Victoria was a great opportunity to speak directly with community leaders about how best their towns and cities could benefit from the $631 million Ready for Tomorrow: A Blueprint for Regional and Rural Victoria package.
“Today I was able to brief local community leaders on how they can best tap-into this new, supplementary Government funding that will help them usher in a new era of opportunity and prosperity,” she said.
Ready for Tomorrow commits $631 million across five key strategies:
- $110.1 million for Investing in Skills and Young People with a new tertiary education package to deliver more opportunities in tertiary education for young people and to make it more attractive for them to stay in or return to the regions. It includes new targets to increase enrolments and graduates, new infrastructure support to encourage investment in student accommodation and for TAFE and university facilities, leadership and cadetship programs, a new youth strategy and support to develop new regional leaders;
- Backing Jobs and Industry with $99.4 million towards a new action plan to create thousands of new jobs, boost regional industries and help small business. It outlines a commitment to grow government jobs in the state’s regions, drive up skills, training and exports, support farmers, the food and beverage industry and tourism growth;
- $203.9 million for Building Infrastructure, Connecting Communities to provide regional Victorians with world-class infrastructure in water, cleaner energy, transport and industry development, improvements to broadband services, local roads, timber roads, bridges, bus service expansion as well as more affordable housing;
- $158.4 million for Supporting the Regional and Rural Way of Life with funding for sports clubs, cultural activities and community. It includes infrastructure and amenities support for the well-being of older people in small communities, promoting regional Victoria as a great place to live and work, a boost to programs to help landholders manage vegetation with funding available for building performing arts centres, galleries and other civic amenities; and
- Planning Better Regions – A New Partnership backed by $58.9 million to establish a new approach to regional planning and development including significant funding to support the planning and design of regional cities and towns, support for the development of new growth areas in regional cities, support for future planning in coastal areas and local government. It also includes grants to local councils for future planning work and expertise within local councils, fast-tracking projects to help local communities adapt to climate change and support for smaller councils.