COOMERA RIVER EROSION Doubt clouding bridge’s future

to the pony club and bridge found extensive erosion.

“In particular, the Coomera River is trying to create a new river channel through the pony club fields,” Mr Boothman wrote.

“This has now caused the water flow under the John Muntz Bridge to alter and it impacts the structure at an angle, rather than flowing parallel, increasing resistance to the bridge piers.”

The bridge is the major link between the Coast and Tamborine Mountain and used by up to 15,000 motorists daily since it replaced a causeway damaged by floods in 2010 and 2012. After Cyclone Debbie, Hinterland businesses were badly affected by poor signage directing tourists to alternative routes up the mountain.

Mr Boothman fears strengthening the bridge’s approach may cause more erosion of the riverbanks. He photographed chunks of the bank falling into the river only last Friday.

Flood levels after Cyclone Debbie at Clagiraba were 2m above previous records and the speed of the water caused more than 40m of riverbank at the pony club to be lost.

Consultants believe the problem could be solved by reenforcing the riverbank with larger boulders along the section of the pony club, he said.

Mr Boothman told the Bulletin his major concern was for residential estates on the western side of the river downstream from the bridge.

“It’s all sandy … material which can be washed away,” he said. “It’s (erosion) actually heading towards people’s houses. My fear is if we don’t look into the ramifications and correct them now it will have dire effects for people’s houses downstream.”

Councillor William OwenJones has asked whether the council or State Government was responsible for the financial burden caused by the flooding.

While the council is responsible for fixing the land used by the pony club, the actual cause of the erosion might be the span on the new bridge built by the government.

Council bureaucrats were unsure but admitted there would be “some toing and fro-