Tender awarded for Violet Street Bridge replacement

Published on 06 November 2025

The tender for the Violet Street Bridge replacement project has been awarded at yesterday’s Extraordinary Council Meeting.

The tender for the contract was awarded to Saunders Civilbuild Pty Ltd.

The company has strong bridge building experience, having delivered a number of bridges within the region and Narrabri Shire during the past several years.

The Violet Street Bridge replacement project will see the removal of the existing bridge and replaced with a concrete and steel reinforced structure as well as upgraded road approaches. 

The new bridge will feature unrestricted load capacity, dual traffic lanes, shared pathways along both sides and new overhead street lighting. 

The $7 million project has been made possible with the contribution of $5 million through the Infrastructure Betterment Program jointly funded by the Australian and NSW Governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. 

Overhead lighting near the bridge will be removed starting Tuesday, 11 November. All bridge construction planning and preparation works will be completed by Christmas, ready for demolition of the existing bridge to commence in early January 2026.

Construction of the new Violet Street Bridge is anticipated to be completed by the end of September 2026, depending on weather and other factors that may affect the timeline. A detour will be in place throughout the duration of the works.

The resulting Violet Street Bridge will be a safer, wider bridge that will cater for all vehicles as well as pedestrians and cyclists. Additionally, it will be built to current bridge standards allowing unrestricted heavy vehicle access.

Each side of the bridge will feature a shared pathway for pedestrians and cyclists, which will connect to the area’s existing shared pathway network.

The new structure will also decrease the time required to remove barriers during flood events. This means the bridge will not need to close as early as per previous flood events – reducing disruption for residents and road users.

Council continues to provide assistance to those directly affected by the works, including residents, the local school, bus companies, businesses and emergency services.

Regular updates will also be provided to the Narrabri community throughout the duration of the works, including via the project’s dedicated website.