The new Nowra Bridge is progressing to schedule with piling work to start on Thursday, November 26.
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The piling is the next major step in construction and will help provide a solid and stable foundation to the new bridge.
Ryan Whiddon project contract manager for the Nowra Bridge Project said the work would begin on Thursday, starting at the southern foreshore.
"We will be starting work on the temporary ten piles to build the construction launch area for the bridge," Mr Whiddon said.
"The bridge will be built on the southern foreshore and be pushed out across the river and landing on the northern foreshore on the Illaroo Road intersection."
READ MORE ON THE BRIDGE
It is expected the piling could take up to 12 months to complete and will be quite noisy.
"The piles are up to 60 metres deep and will initially be driven through vibration efforts alone through the sedimate and silt to the bedrock," Mr Whiddon.
"Once they get to the bedrock they need to be drilled and hammered into the rock to provide a safe and stable activity for the bridge and that hammering activity will involve quite considerable noise impacts to the local area.
"We do appreciate the communities efforts in bearing with us while we undertake this critical activity and dealing with the vibration and noise impacts across the river."
Mr Whiddon said the team was working hard to reduce the noise impacts, and will be placing a sound barrier around the piling hammer.
He said they were also working to minimise traffic impacts.
"We are seeing daily impacts on the traffic network and we're working hard to minimise those impacts and we are making fine-tune adjustments to all of our traffic signals.
"But as we progress with this project we will have, from time to time, additional impacts on the highway network that come as a result as this project."
Locals MPs Gareth Ward and Shelley Hancock tried to quell complaints about the new bridge.
Mrs Hancock said it there was no doubt the old bridge needed to be replaced.
"I think the people who are complaining about this should remember this has to be undertaken as a matter of urgency, it was costing us millions and millions of dollars to upgrade the old bridge," she said.
Mr Ward said building a new bridge doesn't mean the a Nowra bypass won't happen.
"People often paint this bridge as an either or proposition with a bypass, l believe Nowra will need a bypass but I also think we need to focus on the East Nowra Sub-Arterial as well as the Northern Collector Road but we couldn't leave Nowra with just one bridge," he said.