Bypass bridge en route for installation, Newcastle Road closure

MOVE ON OUT: The new bridge leaves JC Butko Engineering's Wodonga site early on Wednesday. Picture: Simon Dallinger

THE footbridge due to span Newcastle Road is on its way.

The span left Wodonga on Wednesday morning. It is 34 metres long, 4.1m wide and five metres high.

Once installed, it will be shared by cyclists and pedestrians as part of the Newcastle Inner City Bypass Project.

The fabrication represents nearly a year of planning, preparation and fabrication by the team behind its creation.

JC Butko Engineering senior project manager Shane Giddens said the company was awarded the Transport for NSW project late last year.

Mr Giddens said the bridge was one of the biggest pieces of infrastructure JC Butko Engineering had fabricated as a single unit.

The JC Butko Engineering team oversees the new bridge's departure from Wodonga. Pictures: Simon Dallinger

"We were doing 12-hour days," Mr Giddens said. "We had to reduce our hours because of COVID because a lot of the boys were coming across the border."

The road will close in both directions from 9pm Saturday to allow a 400-tonne crane to lift the span into place. It is due to reopen 10am on Sunday.