Briars Sharrow Bridge upgrade

Briars Sharrow Road was closed from early afternoon on Tuesday 5 May, so that the contractor can begin major works on the project.

Foxlow Bridge, on Hoskinstown Road, has also been closed. This is following an independent structural engineers’ report on Foxlow Bridge which noted progressive defects and evidence of new deterioration since the last condition assessment in 2024; and they recommended closing the bridge.

A community meeting will be held on Wednesday 6 May from 6.30pm at the Hoskinstown War Memorial Hall to provide updates on the new Briars Sharrow Bridge project and the Foxlow Bridge closure.

Project background

Council has received grant funding from the NSW Government to upgrade Briars Sharrow crossing to a concrete bridge structure. 

The new bridge will be 92m long, 9m wide and will be constructed 4m higher than the existing crossing. The new bridge will significantly reduce the impacts of flooding, as it built above the 1% AEP level.

The project also includes around 718m of roadworks, increasing road approach width from single lane to two lanes. The project will also improve safety by removing the current single-lane give-way arrangements.

We have awarded a contract to Woden Civil Contractors Pty Ltd to design and construct the new bridge.

This project is proudly funded by the NSW Government.

What's happened

• REF has been completed following biodiversity and heritage investigations.
• We have received the Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit(PDF, 659KB), which permits the work around Aboriginal heritage items.
• Preliminary bridge layout and flood modelling completed
• Tender for detailed design and construction was recently closed
• Council endorsed entering into negotiations with a contractor to design and construct the bridge at the December 2025 meeting of Council
• Fisheries permit was approved 24 March 2026. Download a copy of the fisheries permit here(PDF, 2MB).
• We held a drop-in information session about the Briars Sharrow Bridge upgrade on Tuesday 10 March.The information session was held at the Hoskinstown Hall, 1697 Hoskinstown Road, Hoskinstown.
• We completed grading on Rossi Road and grading and some re-sheeting works on Hoskinstown Road.

What's next

• A road closure of Briars Sharrow Road between Plains Road and Captains Flat Road will be required - the road was closed from 15 April - 24 April 2026. It was temporarily reopened from 24 April following the unexpected closure of Foxlow Bridge. The road closure is expected to be in place again from 5 May 2026 - 27 January 2027
• Contractor geotechnical investigations and service relocations will be required before the major works can commence.
• Weekly inspections of the unsealed roads around the road closure will take place in order to address maintenance concerns.

FAQs

Why do we need to build the bridge?

It is very important that we have more reliable connections in this area, both to improve access for residents travelling for work, education and health services, and because it is a highly productive area for agriculture and forestry. This project has been on Council’s priority list for several years, to improve access particularly for emergency services during emergency events.

The existing crossing is flood-prone and is regularly closed to traffic because of flooding. In the three-year period 2020-2022 the crossing was closed more than 15 times, sometimes for several days. The existing crossing is single-lane and subject to the give-way arrangements. The NSW Government has provided funding to upgrade this important crossing.

Why does the road need to be closed to build the bridge?

The new bridge needs to be built on a similar alignment to the existing crossing, which means we must close the road.

When we build a new bridge, we need to build it above the 1% AEP (Annual Exceedance Probability) level. A 1% AEP flood has a 1% or 1 in 100 chance of being reached or exceeded in a given year.

We are not able to move the alignment of the new bridge to the west, due to private residences, a greater impact to existing services, greater impacts to Aboriginal artefacts, and more cost with likely rock excavation.

To the east of the existing road and crossing, the terrain is much flatter, and the flooding area is more widespread. There is also a significant stream to the east of the existing road which runs parallel to the road that would either need to be avoided, pushing the bridge location further east or the stream realigned if approvals permit. Building a new bridge on this side would result in the need for a longer bridge and more roadworks to address the wider flood area and mitigation for the stream which would add a significant cost to the project. There would also be a cost associated with land acquisition to move the bridge and road to the east. The project has a tight budget with the current arrangements. Building a new bridge on a different alignment would push the project costs over our budget. The project also needs to consider the uncertainty of cost increases due to the current geopolitical impacts to fuel supply and impacts of shortages.

The project also has very tight timeframes for delivery due to funding constraints. Building a bridge on a different alignment would result in more consultation and approvals to obtain due to greater impacts on Aboriginal artefacts and biodiversity. This would put access to our funding at risk as well as add some further cost to the project.

What will the road closure be?

Briars Sharrow Road between Plains Road and Captains Flat Road will be closed during construction. Depending on your start point and intended destination, detours may be: 

• North of the closure - Briars Sharrow Road to Hoskinstown Road towards Bungendore and Kings Highway
• North of the closure - Hoskinstown Road to Trucking Yard Lane to Kings Highway
• South of the closure - Captains Flat Road to Kings Highway

How long will the road closure be in place for?

The road closure will be in place again from Tuesday 5 May. 

The new bridge is expected to open to traffic by the end of January 2027. Our first newsletter mentioned a 12-month closure. This was prepared before a contract was awarded, and we now have further information about the construction timeline.

Why can't you build a temporary side track?

The project has very tight time frames for delivery. A temporary sidetrack on a different alignment was considered; however, this would result in significant cost and would not be flood proof. The delays from the required approvals would put access to our funding at risk.

There are also safety risks of putting a temporary sidetrack too close to the construction site due to the large working area required for piling rigs, cranes, heavy vehicles and other large plant. 

A temporary side track would also face the same constraints as putting the bridge on a different alignment.

The roads around Briars Sharrow will have more traffic, will you be maintaining these?

We have included funds from the project budget for increased grading and maintenance for the unsealed sections of Hoskinstown Road and Rossi Road.

Why was Foxlow Bridge on Hoskinstown Road closed?

Foxlow Bridge was closed to traffic on 24 April. An independent structural engineers’ report noted progressive defects and evidence of new deterioration since the last condition assessment in 2024; and they recommended closing the bridge. To ensure the safety of drivers, the bridge was closed.

The structural engineer's report and other reports about Foxlow Bridge are available on the project page for Foxlow Bridge.

Council will be considering the Foxlow Bridge at the 13 May 2026 Council Meeting. The recommendation is to endorse the closure of Foxlow Bridge to all vehicular traffic until further notice and to receive a further report with a cost estimate for the investigation, design and delivery of options for alternative crossing arrangements or replacement.

What will you do if Yandyguinula Creek/Reschs Creek floods?

The road closure at Briars Sharrow Road does not stop residents using the crossing at Yandyguinula Creek. Unfortunately the Foxlow Bridge, which was an alternative for light vehicles, has been closed due to safety concerns.

We are also working on a project to replace the crossing at Yandyguinula Creek. This new bridge can be built on a new alignment, which means there won’t need to be a road closure in place for the construction. The existing crossing will be used during construction and traffic will be switched onto the new bridge once it is completed. This project will be on a similar timeline, though it is a smaller bridge that won’t take quite as long to construct.

Have you considered emergency services?

Yes. This project was raised with emergency services at a meeting of the Local Emergency Management Committee in December 2025 and was discussed at the March 2026 meeting too. We have also had specific contact with all emergency services who generally support the project as it will improve long term access in the area.

The RFS have advised that alternative arrangements are available to ensure all areas are covered in a fire event. Hoskinstown RFB have a good response capacity, and Bungendore RFB is the normal back up response and would be unaffected by the closure. There are additional response units from the north, including Boro/Mt Fairy RFB, Mulloon and Taylors Creek. Units from the south will have an additional response time, but the RFS will escalate response if required to call in these brigades - such as Carwoola RFB, Ridgeway RFB and Queanbeyan RFB.

For the Captains Flat area, there are units from the west that can respond including Carwoola RFB, Ridgeway RFB and Queanbeyan RFB, and Braidwood RFB, Farringdon RFB and Majors Creek RFB from the east with unchanged response routes for Captains Flat. If needed there are also neighbouring brigades from Cooma from the south.

NSW Ambulance have also provided reassurance that response times in the area remain strong, particularly with the support available from the Bungendore Ambulance station. They have advised that they have communicated extensively with all paramedics and their Southern Control Centre, and they will continue to closely monitor response times in the area.

We are working with the contractor to include in their program a milestone where they would be able to provide emergency services access as soon as the bridge is safe to traverse. This would be before the project is completed, at special request during an emergency event.