NSW: Save Historic Windsor Bridge

Brian Pearson and Ray Wedgwood spent two decades as the state's chief bridge engineers, in which Mr Wedgwood led the design and construction of, among others, the Anzac Bridge.

So when they were asked by the ABC's Ian ''Macca'' McNamara to have a look at the controversy around one of the state government's big bridge projects - the replacement of Windsor Bridge in far north-west Sydney - they felt qualified to express an opinion.

Windsor Bridge in 1888

They think it's a folly. As do thousands in the area who believe the government's proposal will ruin the rare historical appeal of a town square laid out by Governor Lachlan Macquarie more than 200 years ago. ''I think it is all political,'' Mr Wedgwood said this week. ''I think Barry O'Farrell wants to do something for the people of Windsor and this was a proposal that was ready to go and they want to make it happen.''

That Windsor needs a new or upgraded bridge is not in question. The existing one was completed in 1874 and there are few places for motorists to cross the Hawkesbury River around Windsor and nearby Richmond. But how that bridge should be built has split the community near Windsor and its historic Thompson Square.The government's preferred option was developed before Mr O'Farrell took power. Worked up in 2008, the option is to close the bridge and replace it with a higher concrete structure about 35 metres downstream.

Roads and Maritime Services lodged an environmental impact statement late last year, and approved work could start mid-year. But the campaign against the proposal has only intensified. The group Community Action for Windsor Bridge won more than 12,000 signatures to trigger a debate in Parliament.

The National Trust is against it, saying it would be better to build a bypass for Windsor to prevent the town becoming a thoroughfare and preserving the appeal of Thompson Square, a rare colonial relic.
Mr Pearson and Mr Wedgwood, who between them were in charge of development of the state's bridges from 1981 to 2000 and who sit on RMS's Heritage Committee, have joined the fray.
They say the existing proposal would ''direct an increasing volume of traffic, including heavy vehicles, through the heart of Windsor'' and would offer little relief from the regular flooding of the Hawkesbury.
They say the structure could be refurbished relatively cheaply, and a bypass built at a much higher point downstream, with much less risk of flooding.

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Windsor Bridge, built 1874, is the oldest extant Hawkesbury crossing. The square from which it springs - Thompson Square, 1795 - is still older. A rare remaining Georgian space, it is the oldest public square in the country. Yet the government wants to destroy both, asap.

Thompson Square in the 1880s

When Thompson Square was built, Windsor was still the village of Green Hills. The name change came in 1811, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie adopted it as one of his five Hawkesbury towns.

Windsor Bridge is individually listed in the Hawkesbury local environment plan and the state register.

Even the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) calls it "highly significant". The Government Architect describes the project's level of impact on a dozen or more heritage properties as "very high".

The square, says the Heritage Council, is "of crucial importance to the heritage of the state". The Government Architect's office says it reflects "Macquarie's visionary schemes for town planning excellence in the infant colony".

Windsor is a small 1600-person town, and heritage is definitely an outré´ issue. But in July, hundreds watched a thunder of horsemen cross the bridge under the Eureka Flag to highlight the bridge's plight, and in November the Community Action for Windsor Bridge (CAWB) group presented state Parliament with a 12,000-signature petition.

Yet the O'Farrell government proceeds apace to demolish the bridge and rebuild a high level four-lane concrete monster that will queue B-doubles and mining trucks through the town and relegate what is left of the square to a siding.

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