Briars Sharrow Bridge upgrade

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.

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 have completed grading on Rossi Road on 24 March 2026. As of 26 March, grading and some re-sheeting works on Hoskinstown Road are in progress, and expected to be completed next week.

What's next

• A road closure of Briars Sharrow Road between Plains Road and Captains Flat Road will be required - this is expected to be in place from 15 April 2026 - January 2027
• Contractor geotechnical investigations and service relocations will be required before the major works can commence.
• On the unsealed roads that form part of the detour routes, guide posts and signage installation will follow the grading work that is being completed at end of March. This may also include vegetation management, if required.
• 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: 

• South on Hoskinstown Road towards Captains Flat Road
• North on Briars Sharrow Road to Hoskinstown Road towards Bungendore
• North on Hoskinstown Road to Trucking Yard Lane to Kings Highway

How long will the road closure be in place for?

We expect the road closure to start from 15 April. Following a meeting with the community, the contractor is starting work in the last week in March but will be doing as much work as they can before needing to close the road. They will do the site setup, and other preparation works before closing the road.

The new bridge is expected to open to traffic in early 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 the approaches to Foxlow Bridge that form part of the project detours.

Foxlow Bridge is height and weight limited, what are you doing about that?

The height and weight limits for Foxlow Bridge will remain in place while the Briars Sharrow upgrade project is underway. Foxlow Bridge cannot take any heavy vehicles.

The future replacement of Foxlow Bridge is a priority project for Council, and we will be seeking funding. We will be continuing to look at the condition of this bridge during the project and installing traffic counters to monitor how many vehicles are using it.

An asset condition report on the Foxlow Bridge was prepared in September 2024. This is available on this page. We are also commissioning a further structural conditional assessment, that will also be made available once it has been prepared.

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. If the crossing at Yandyguinula Creek floods the only alternative route for residents south or east of this crossing is Foxlow Bridge, noting the height and weight limits. Briars Sharrow is not an alternative for Reschs Creek while that floods.

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 and was discussed at the March 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. For example, for the Captains Flat area, they will use Carwoola RFB, Ridgeway RFB and Queanbeyan RFB to the west, Braidwood RFB, Farringdon RFB and Majors Creek RFB from the east with unchanged response routes for Captains Flat. If needed there is also neighbouring brigades from Cooma from the south. They only expect minor delays in any back up responses.

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.