Tamworth's road freight capacity is being hindered by wooden parts, a new report has revealed.
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Council will vote to approve the Bridges and Major Culverts Strategy on Tuesday, which plans a way to increase the freight capacity on the region's roads to accommodate the growing freight sector.
Tamworth Regional Council maintains 340 bridges and major culverts.
These have an estimated replacement value of $318 million as of 2020.
About 10 per cent of all council's bridges have timber components. Replacement of these structures, the report said, needs to be investigated in the short term.
Council is sitting better than the state's overall average, however, with the Roads and Maritime Services estimating 20 per cent of all bridges in NSW are timber.
More than 14 timber bridges have been replaced over seven years in the Tamworth area. The load bearing capacity for another 78 bridges and major culverts has been tested.
For the remaining timber bridges, it's estimated their replacement will cost just over $5 million.
Of that, $1.4 million would come from council's Asset Renewal funds, with the remaining $3.62 million expected to be funded by future government programs.
"Maintaining road infrastructure, including bridges and culverts, to a high standard is particularly important in the Tamworth region where a high proportion of freight movement uses the road network," the report stated.
A report from Transport for NSW reveals that in 2011, road freight accounted for 63 per cent of all total freight in NSW.
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"In Tamworth this percentage is thought to be even higher because of the current limited rail infrastructure and air freight opportunities," the report continued.
This strategy complements the Active Transport, CBD Parking and Road Infrastructure Strategies, which are expected to feed and drive the direction of the Tamworth Regional Transport masterplan to meet current and future needs of transportation.
