Cairns Regional Council engineers are finalising options to reinstate a washed out section of the Bloomfield Causeway following damage caused by torrential rain in the wake of Cyclone Yasi.
 
A 40m section of the causeway was washed out early February. Since the washout, residents have been transported across the Bloomfield River by SES boats.
 
Council's Infrastructure Services Manager Stephen Tyter said Council engineers had met with representatives from Wujal Wujal, Cook Shire and the Department of Transport and Main Roads to develop a feasible option to reinstate the crossing.
 
“In the short term we will ensure that we stabilise the remaining sections of the crossing to ensure further damage does not occur,” Mr Tyter said.
 
“In the next two weeks we hope to place rock adjacent to existing sections of the causeway as a temporary access across the damaged section of the causeway.
 
 “Due to the aggressive nature of the Bloomfield River it is not envisaged this temporary crossing will be sustainable throughout the remaining wet season and continued support from the SES to ferry people across the river will need to be maintained.”
 
Mr Tyter said Council has considered installing a "Bailey Bridge" to reinstate access but this option would be susceptible to any further significant flooding in the Bloomfield. Bailey bridges are built on site from a pre-engineered system of ready-to-assemble components and often used by the military as a temporary crossing.
 
The current option being considered is a system using pre-cast concrete blocks which would be anchored to the river bed using rock anchors.