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Member for Schubert, Mr Ivan Venning was disappointed that the Robin Bridge, located at the southern end of Murray Street in Nuriootpa, will not be repainted in the near future.
Mr Venning contacted the Minister for Transport as the bridge is a State Government responsibility requesting funds be made available to repaint the bridge, and has also raised the matter in Parliament however, no funding has been forthcoming.
The bridge was constructed in the early 1960s on land partly donated by the Robin family and it has not been repainted since its opening. The handrails of the bridge are supposed to be white and its railings a dark green colour, but today the paint is flaking off, leaving the bare metal exposed and making it very unsightly.
The Minister in his response to Mr Venning’s request stated:
The painting of the bridge will be included in a list of candidate projects for future funding and therefore it will be necessary to prioritise this project against other statewide projects.
25 September 2009
Mr Venning said that the situation was brought to his attention by a constituent and the Barossa Council had also contacted the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure over a period of many years requesting the Robin Bridge be repainted, but to no avail.
“The bridge is a beautiful landmark in the Nuriootpa township and is crossed by everyone—tourists and locals alike—who enter the town from its southern end.
“The Minister’s response stated that the Department would need to dismantle the steel handrails on the bridge and then transport them to Adelaide for sandblasting, because the original paint is lead based and would risk polluting the North Para River if the job was done on the site.
“This seems to me to be bureaucracy gone mad. I could easily repaint it myself in no time.
“I understand that to sandblast lead paint would be potentially damaging to the North Para River environment, but surely tarps could be used to prevent the paint from falling into the waterway?
“I believe a far cheaper option would be for the bridge to have a new coat of paint, say, every 10 years, over the top of the existing paint than it would be to transport it to Adelaide, remove the lead paint (what remains of it, that is), paint it and then transport it back to Nuriootpa and fit it in place.
“A new coat of paint would give it a new lease of life and would make it stand out as a feature to visitors. At the moment, it looks like an eyesore and it is certainly not appropriate for the main entrance to one of the Barossa's largest townships" Mr Venning said.
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