Update on Gipps Street Bridge, Port Fairy

Published on 08 July 2025

Moyne Shire Council shares the community’s concerns about the state of the Gipps Street Bridge in Port Fairy. The latest hole that appeared on Saturday 5 July 2025 highlights the need for the replacement of the bridge as soon as possible.

Council’s engineers regularly conduct safety assessments of the bridge surface and substructure. A 20kmh speed limit is in place along with a 15-tonne load limit, to reduce the impact of vehicle traffic.

Moyne Shire Mayor, Cr Karen Foster said this latest hole and two other locations on the bridge will be repaired with steel plates on Tuesday 8 July 2025.

“The growing patchwork of plates is a constant reminder to our local community that the bridge is overdue for replacement,” said Cr Foster.

“Council has been advocating for several years for funding to replace the bridge, which is expected to cost over $7 million. An application is in place to the Federal Government’s Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Fund, with the outcome expected to be known shortly,” she said.

“Should the application for Federal funding not be successful, Council has taken steps to access borrowing capacity of up to $10 million to replace the bridge, which was included in our 2025/26 budget.”

“Borrowing such a large sum will have an impact on Council’s budgets over coming years, however this infrastructure work cannot wait.”

“We will continue to keep the community informed about the bridge, and will share updates about timelines for the works when known.”