Road users and freight operators who frequent the Gilgandra shire are now once again able to traverse Lucas Bridge over the Castlereagh River at Breelong following the recent completion of a $2.5 million upgrade.

Works to replace the bridge first began in February 2021 with the bridge and approaches on the Breelong-Balladoran Road being closed until they were complete at the end of March 2022.

While the bridge officially reopened to the public on Monday 28 March, an official opening of the bridge was held on Wednesday 27 April with special guests Ken Lucas and Bev Lewis, descendants of the bridge’s namesake Lance Lucas.

Also attending the bridge opening was Gilgandra Shire Mayor Doug Batton and Member for Parkes Mark Coulton representing the federal government which contributed $1.25 million towards the project.

“It’s fantastic to be here today to open this new bridge, which is a much-needed improvement to the old timber structure,” Mr Coulton said.

“This a great win for the local community, who campaigned for this upgrade for some time. This new concrete bridge will significantly improve the safety and accessibility of this route for local road users and freight operators."

One of the locals who was highly supportive of the bridge replacement when it was first proposed was Mendooran Post Office owner Philip McCormack.

Mr McCormack, who is also a delivery contractor for the eastern Gilgandra and Mendooran areas said the project was "long overdue".

"Before, you only needed a 3 metre high river and (the road) would be blocked off, so I think is a great asset for the area," Mr McCormack said.

ABOVE: The pre-existing structure was in poor repair before the upgrade. Image: Gilgandra Shire Council.

However, Mr McCormack also said the project - which was initially planned to be finished by July 2021 but was pushed back to this year due to COVID and higher than normal river flow - was an ongoing cause of disruption in the local traffic flow.

"I do a mail run there three days a week where I would be crossing the bridge to service some local farmers," he said.

"With the bridge closed I had to do a 30km detour going through Gilgandra to do the southern side of the route.

"I was fortunate to be subsidised by Australia Post to do that - I was paid for it - but it did push everything back by an hour and impacted my local deliveries in Mendooran."

Mr McCormack said farmers living nearby would have been particularly impacted by the bridge closure.

"That road was vitally important for farmers because the other roads have deep creek crossings, so it was the only way out for some people," he said.

"I can think of three to four occasions, probably more, where they would have been impacted, including the November/December floods and the particularly wet harvest where a lot of trucks weren't able to get down those roads."

ABOVE: Works were still ongoing in January 2022, following extensive flooding in regional NSW. Image: Gilgandra Shire Council.

While the council has acknowledged that the project caused disruption to local road users over the last 13 months, they said the long-term benefits far outweighed the short-term inconvenience.

“The upgrade of the Lucas Bridge has been a priority of council for some time, and we are proud to have partnered with the Federal Government to achieve this,” Mayor Batten said.

“The long-term benefits of this project are significant, and we appreciate the community’s patience while the contractors have battled the elements to complete the job.”

Gilgandra Shire Council has reminded the community that works are continuing between the Castlereagh Highway and the bridge and advise local motorists to drive with caution.