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New border river crossing to save truckies two hours of travel time

echuca

More trucking companies are expected to take advantage of the increased load limits on the newly opened Echuca-Moama Bridge crossing from this week.

Purtill Group Petroleum general manager Glenn Carr told the Riverine Herald that he is expecting his A-double road trains to be some of the first to use $323.7 million project which has been finished months ahead of schedule.

Carr said the new Murray River crossing would potentially now save his drivers up to two hours travel time on a run from Melbourne to the company’s HQ in Deniliquin.

When fully loaded the 30-metre A-doubles used by Purtill weren’t allowed to use the old bridge and had to instead divert through Shepparton.

Carr said the new Victoria-NSW border crossing would decrease his own company’s traffic movements by 30 per cent, and he expects other fleets to follow his lead.

He said the bridge means operators now no longer have to face the headache of negotiating traffic in Sturt, High and Meninya Streets.

The only potential downside he can foresee is the lack of designated splitting and re-hooking facilities.

“There is very little area to do that at the moment and it will only get worse when this bridge becomes the primary route for us, to and from Melbourne,” he said.

The Echuca-Moama Bridge was jointly funded by the Australian, Victorian and NSW governments.

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