Hampden Bridge (Wagga Wagga)

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Hampden Bridge is a wooden Allan Truss bridge over the Murrumbidgee River in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales which opened to traffic on 11 November 1895 and was closed in October 1995 when the Wiradjuri Bridge opened. The bridge is 100.5 metres (330 ft) long with each of the 3 truss spans 33.5 metres (110 ft]]) long. Hampden Bridge was the first large overhead-braced truss bridge designed by Percy Allan. The bridge was originally designed to be a steel designed bridge however the tenders were too expensive so timber was used as an alternative. Hampden Bridge replaced the Wagga Wagga Company Bridge which was a toll bridge over the Murrumbidgee River that was constructed in 1862.

The Roads and Traffic Authority handed over the Hampden Bridge to the Wagga Wagga City Council after the bridge was closed to traffic in October 1995 however the local historic landmark stayed open to pedestrians as a route between the suburb of North Wagga and the City of Wagga Wagga.

[edit] Current issues and news

• On the 16 August 2006 the Hampden Bridge was closed to pedestrians indefinitely after the Wagga Wagga City Council found that the bridge deck dropped 50 centimetres (20 in) after one of the trusses failed. A safety report by the Roads and Traffic Authority stated that the bridge may fall down any day due to it being in a state of disrepair. Wagga Wagga City Council are currently looking into ways of trying to prop up the failed section with other options are possibility demolishing the bridge.

• 25 August 2006 Wagga Wagga City Council have reported that it could cost $30,000 to do emergency stabilisation with other costs such as $10,000 or more for a structural assessment and $25,000 to prepare for tenders for the repairs to make the Hampden Bridge safe.

• 28 August 2006 At the Wagga Wagga City Council's monthly meeting the Council decided to do emergency stabilisation work, structural soundness assessment, heritage assessment and costs into demolition of the bridge. Cr Peter Dale argued that demolition was the only option since that keeping the Hampden Bridge would cost the Wagga Wagga City Council hundreds of thousands dollars to maintain after an engineer looked at the bridge and estimated that the cost for repairs would be $100,000.

• 25 September 2006 Wagga Wagga City Council approved on whether or not that they should use $30,000 from cash reserves for repairs or for demolishion of the bridge. A report by Harry Trueman from the Institute of Engineers Australia stated that the Hampden Bridge is one of the biggest and most important timber bridges in the state since it was originally built to take produce from the Riverina to Sydney however he isn't confident that the Hampden Bridge can be saved due to the the amount of money need to restoring back in to a good condition would cost the Council millions of dollars and ongoing maintenance costs would be high.

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