Micalong Creek Bridge Reopened

The Hume & Hovell Team are happy to announce that the Micalong Creek Bridge has officially reopened in May 2024.
The iconic steel bridge on Micalong Creek just north of Barrois Campsite was damaged in June 2023 from a tree falling across it. This caused catastrophic failure and needed to be fully replaced. This is the second time this bridge has been rebuilt, the first was in December 2020 when the original timber bridge was replaced - original story here

The bridge is over a steep part of the Micalong Creek gorge and is a vital crossing point on the track. With the relinking of this crossing point, the short detour on forestry roads has now been removed, allowing walkers to continue on singletrack - and keeping feet dry when crossing!

Coordinating this rebuild required a lot of planning and engineering, firstly the tree had to be cut up and removed to give access to the bridge. Then the new materials had to be delivered to site and manourvered into position. The preferred approach mirrored the original unique method which was first undertaken in 2020.
The method used a flying fox setup, to firstly lift out the pieces of the tree and then to deliver the abutment materials, 300kg steel girders and various other bridge components directly to the site from a forestry road over 100m away. It was then used to remove the old broken bridge pieces from the site. This requires careful coordination and skill which was completed by our bridge builder Geoff.

Images below show the fallen tree that damaged the bridge, then the rebuild process of the new bridge and the final completion.