‘HOW MANY MORE?’: COOKE DEMANDS URGENT ACTION ON WILLIAM BRADFORD BRIDGE AFTER YET ANOTHER SERIOUS CRASH
- Steph Cooke MP
- May 26
- 2 min read
Monday, 26 May 2025
Member for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke MP, is once again demanding urgent action from the NSW Government to upgrade or replace the dangerous William Bradford Bridge following yet another serious crash.
At around 5:30pm on Thursday 22 May, emergency services responded to a collision between a fuel tanker and a semi-trailer, which forced the closure of Burley Griffin Way between Wallendbeen and Murrumburrah for several hours.
This brought the region’s traffic to a standstill, placing lives at serious risk as NSW Fire and Rescue began the mammoth task of cleaning up the scene.
“This could have been catastrophic,” Ms Cooke said.
“We are lucky we’re not mourning a tragedy today. But how many more close calls, crashes, and injuries do we need before this government acts?”
The William Bradford Bridge is no stranger to danger. The latest incident follows:
September 2024: A multi-vehicle collision involving three vehicles, including one towing a caravan.
July 2024: A crash involving two cars and a truck transporting 500 sheep where one person died.
September 2019: A bus crash where 28 people were injured, leaving a 65-year-old woman in critical condition and an eight-year-old boy with serious fractures.
Despite these repeated, serious incidents, the NSW Government has failed to commit to essential safety upgrades, instead burying the bridge in a pool of funding competition with other regional projects.
“The Government has had the structural assessments. They’ve had the accident reports. They’ve had the warnings. Yet still, they fail to act,” Ms Cooke said.
“This is a matter of life and death. How many incidents and injuries will it take before they finally prioritise the safety of our community?”
The bridge, built in the early 1930s, is a critical link on Burley Griffin Way and sees hundreds of heavy vehicles and commuter movements every single day.
Narrow, outdated, and unable to safely accommodate modern traffic volumes, it has become a repeat crash site and a deadly bottleneck in the heart of regional NSW.
Ms Cooke said the Government’s inaction is a betrayal of rural road users.
“Last week we recognised National Road Safety Week, yet here we are again, watching another major crash unfold on a stretch of road that’s long been identified as unsafe. The NSW Government cannot continue to ignore their responsibility.”
“They owe it to every driver, every family, and every first responder to stop delaying and start delivering. This bridge needs to be widened or replaced, and it needs to happen now.”
Ms Cooke is demanding immediate action and will raise the issue directly with the Minister this week when Parliament resumes.
