Council rebuffs offer to take ownership of Bridgewater Causeway

PICTURE: 200 years of construction history: Bridgewater Causeway, Old Watch House rear left, original quarry in the centre and far right, the Commandant’s Cottage

BRIDGEWATER'S Causeway, the hand-built road infrastructure that is the last substantial section of Tasmania’s operational highway system built by convicts, is to remain in state government hands.

The construction, formed over nearly a decade from 1829 and then completed to the northern shore with a wooden bridge, sits just within the municipal boundary of Derwent Valley Council.

With the new Bridgewater Bridge to replace the current crossing of the Derwent in 2025, the Department of State Growth has been pressing Council to take responsibility for the 730 metre causeway.

(It’s expected the steel bridge section, erected in 1946, will be demolished in whole or in part for safety reasons.)

At their most recent monthly meeting, the majority of Councillors voted against taking over long-term ownership or maintenance responsibilities from the state, reinforcing a position it initially took in May this year.

State Growth plans to remove the roadway and turn it over for  recreation with park assets, low-maintenance lawns and plantings. Periodic maintenance and rubbish removal will be required.

The Department has suggested nothing further than recreational use, although a broader plan might include the adjacent Black Snake Inn and Old Watch House, both erected in 1833. 

Also adjacent is the original quarry from which some 2,000,000 tonnes of rock and dirt was drawn for the causeway’s construction, as well as the Commandant’s Cottage, now in private hands. 

Further, the causeway itself was initially planned to include a viaduct, the half-finished arches of which still exist beneath the roadway, and retain significant historical interest.

Councillors were asked to consider the value of such an “inherited asset … from a financial, economic, and infrastructure perspective…” particularly its longevity and potential burden on council's resources. 

“Consideration of accepting this asset is outside the current assumptions” made in Council's current long term asset and financial management plans, rationalises the recommendation for Council to reject the government offer.