News
22 December, 2025
Hampden Bridge work to continue throughout 2026
Motorists travelling from the Southern Highlands to the South Coast via Kangaroo Valley face another frustrating year with repair work to continue on the historic Hampden Bridge throughout 2026.
Motorists travelling from the Southern Highlands to the South Coast via Kangaroo Valley face another frustrating year with repair work to continue on the historic Hampden Bridge throughout 2026.
Those works will include night closures – forcing motorists to use Macquarie Pass instead.
Macquarie Pass has also been subject to recent night closures.
At this stage there is no plan to increase the load limit from 23 tonnes, which was introduced earlier this year to relieve the pressure large vehicles have placed on the bridge over time.
In its latest update on the 127-year-old Hampden Bridge, Transport for NSW said it was planning a “complex program of maintenance work” from late January through to the end of 2026.
Those works will include the replacement of 12 timber beams along the bottom of the bridge truss, nine timber beams along the top of the truss and 11 steel hangar bars along the top of the bridge.
Daytime work will be undertaken under stop/slow traffic control however a number of full bridge closures will be completed in one to two-week blocks.
The first block of night work is planned for late March 2026 by which time the night work on Macquarie Pass is expected to be completed.
Transport for NSW says it will reassess the load limit restrictions at the end of 2026 to determine if the previous 42.5 load limit can be reinstated and if so, for how long.
However, it anticipates a full upgrade and repair of the bridge in line with heritage approvals would be required to maintain a 42.5 tonne load limit in the long term.
Hampden Bridge is Australia’s only surviving timber-decked vehicular suspension bridge from the nineteenth century.
It was officially opened on May 19, 1898 and is considered a critical piece of infrastructure linking the Highlands to the coast.
Read More: Southern Highlands