Bete Bolong Creek Bridge

What is significant? The Bete Bolong Creek Bridge, constructed in 1930, is a rare and unusually authentic example of a transverse-decked timber-beam pile-and-stringer road bridge with a horizontally-curving deck to accommodate a road bend at a stream crossing.
The substructure consists of timber abutments and wing walls, and four-pile timber piers. The curving deck retains the original pre-1931 type of transverse-timbered deck with running planks to accommodate motor vehicles. Stringers and corbels are the normal round-log variety recommended by the CRB circa 1930. The bridge deck is 4.5 metres wide and 32 metres in length, being approximately six metres in maximum height. The bridge was by passed in 2003.
How is it significant? The Bete Bolong Creek Bridge is significant for historic and aesthetic reasons at the State level.
Why is it significant? The Bete Bolong Creek Bridge is of historic significance as a traditional Victorian transverse-decked timber-beam bridge. It dates from the very end of the period when transverse-timber decks represented standard road-bridge practice in Victoria. This bridge's combination of curving timber deck with transverse-timber decking topped by longitudinal 'running planks', is believed to be unique in Victoria. The Country Roads Board changed to a standard longitudinal-timber deck after 1931, so the superstructure design of this bridge represents the end of an era in timber-bridge design. Despite the 80 or so years since its construction, this bridge remains remarkably true to the original CRB-approved pattern of 1930.
The Bete Bolong Creek Bridge is of historic significance as part of a route constructed between 1920 and 1930, as a Country Roads Board Developmental Road. After 1926 Commonwealth money became available under the new Federal Aid Roads Scheme, and this section was completed with considerable federal funding for the opening up of rural Victoria.
The Bete Bolong Creek Bridge is of aesthetic significance for its unusual curving timber frame enhanced by its four-span design, the height of its four-pile timber piers, the transverse deck with running planks, and its attractive rural setting.
Classified: 19/11/1998

Group

Transport - Road

Category

Road Bridge