At an extraordinary meeting on Friday, councillors voted unanimously to waive the tendering process for the reconstruction, which would have delayed the repairs by about two months.

Instead the bridge could now be repaired by the end of the year, depending on construction restraints.

Shire engineer Mark Thompson said there were still some issues with the bridge the council was working to resolve.

“Generally a new bridge takes at least three years to build, from the evaluation process right through to the day of completion,” he said.

“Originally, the bridge was probably built in the wrong place. Every time we have a major flood it gets washed away.

“In the May flood the piers in the southern part of the river got turned and there are also major works to put one of the head stocks on.”

Mr Thompson said repair times would possibly be delayed by the amount of time it took to turn the twisted pier around, and there was also a possibility one of the head stocks would have to be built on site.

He said the council had two options for the decking of the new bridge to choose from and had chosen the Wagland deck, which uses concrete girders.

But he said the bridge would not necessarily be stronger as a result.

“While the concrete’s on the same alignment, the butting is also the old bridge and the bridge is in the wrong location,” he said.

“And under the Natural Disaster Funding agreement, we can only build it to what it was like.

“In saying that I believe it will be better than what it was before, but I couldn’t guarantee it won’t wash away in the next flood.”

The council may use one of two engineering firms already working on other bridges in the Shire to help them with the repair project.

Mr Thompson said Jim Alexander, chief engineer with Civilbuild, which is currently building bridges at Jerseyville, Devils Nook Creek and Mungay Creek, had designed the new structure at Turners Flat.