Eve Lamb
Battlelines are again being drawn up over the future of Castlemaine’s historic Froomes Road Bridge with the matter drawing some impassioned discussion during public question time at this week’s Mount Alexander Shire Council meeting.
In the face of considerable public outcry at the time, the council had last April voted down an officer recommendation to replace the historic single lane structure over Barkers Creek with a two lane new bridge using federal grant money.
While locals who had strongly opposed the replacement of the old heritage structure with a new double lane bridge celebrated that decision at the time, the opening up of a new public consultation to explore possible options for the bridge and associated traffic management options on that section of Froomes Road has immediately reignited tensions.
These were clearly on display at Tuesday evening’s council meeting where Froomes Road Action Group members including unimpressed local resident Ian Edwards noted that options now on the table include “replacing the bridge with an even bigger two lane structure or closing the bridge completely”.
He and several other local residents used public question time to make it clear they do not want the existing single lane structure replaced with a double lane structure something they believe would destroy…
Read more in today’s Mail…