Save Melville Ford Bridge Maitland

07/11/2025

✅ Work on the new bridge at Melville is back on track.

In recent weeks, Saunders Civilbuild and Council staff have completed detailed assessments and critical repair plans following damage to the partially constructed bridge caused by the May and August flood events.

Saunders Civilbuild crews have now carefully removed the bridge deck planks from the piers using a 750-tonne crane and realigned the structure after clearing flood debris and dredging accumulated sand and gravel from around the bridge.

These realignment works were closely monitored by Council’s engineers and Saunders Civilbuild, with controlled loads used to guide the piers back into position.

Here are the next steps:

🏗️ From 10 November, work will begin to reinstall the beams and form and construct the bridge deck, involving 88 tonnes of reinforcing steel.

✅ Once the beams are in place, Council will be able to confirm a clear timeframe for completion.

We will continue to keep the community updated. Full details here ➡️ https://mait.city/47NZVYl

29/10/2025

Great to see some regular updates from council. It would also be good to have an estimated timeframe of when traffic can cross the ford again.

Last week, an assessment of the damage caused by flood events in May and August to the partially constructed bridge at Melville took place. This involved removing the beams with a 750-tonne crane so that the contractor, Saunders Civilbuild, could inspect the piers and complete a repair plan. The repair plan has now been reviewed by Council and its independent engineering consultant and is ready to be enacted.

The first stage of the repair plan will include minor realignment of the piers (up to 100mm) using a heavy recovery vehicle being brought in this week. Careful monitoring and survey will ensure the repositioning works bring the alignment back to standard.

The outcome of this work will inform the next step in the repair process, and we will continue to keep the community up to date. For more information visit ➡️ mait.city/NewBridgeMelville

15/10/2025

11/09/2025

What's happening with Melville bridge? Here's the latest 👇

We all know recent flooding has impacted the new structure and the water levels have now receded enough for crews to safely re-enter the site and begin a full damage assessment.

Now this has occurred, we are activating the following plan:

🚧 Our specialist bridge contractor will assess the damage and prepare a detailed repair plan.

👷 We will review the plan with engineering consultants.

🛠️ After we agree on the appropriate steps forward, we can provide updated timelines and repairs can begin.

🏗️ Once repairs are complete, we can complete the remaining works to finish the new bridge.

We recognise this is taking a lot of time which is frustrating for our community, and we are actively progressing things where we can.

05/09/2025

An interesting snapshot of our history here, with some pics of the measuring weir just upstream from Melville Ford. It's a significant piece of infrastructure in that it was the only one of it's kind in the Maitland LGA.
Check out the write up from local historian and passionate Melville Ford advocate Diane Blishen.

18/08/2025

Recent flooding in May and again in August has impacted the construction of the new bridge at Melville, causing delays.

We're working closely with our specialist bridge contractor and once the river recedes, we'll be able to assess the full extent of the damage from both events so that work can resume as soon as possible.

Once the assessment is complete and we've established a new timeframe, we'll share the update with the community 👉 mait.city/Melvillebridge

03/08/2025

Thank you to Smart Artists for these great images taken today. More of the same, with debris piling up an undoubtedly causing more damage.
It would be great to hear from Maitland City Council with the latest plan of action, but everyone seems too busy working out who to blame for the debacle.
Watch this space I guess…