The vehicle almost reached the opposite side of the crossing, when it was pulled in to the river by a strong surge of water.

He got out safely from the ute and watched as the flood water indicator rose another 200 millimetres in about half-an-hour.

While taking responsibility for his error in judgement, the 19-year-old’s gripe is directed at Dubbo City Council (DCC).

Mr Howard said DCC have promised for years to tar Old Mendooran Road and build a bridge over the vulnerable crossing.

He said residents who use Talbragar Crossing are regularly challenged by water flows in the river that make crossing risky or impossible.

Council’s Civil Infrastructure and Solid Waste manager Steve Clayton said construction of a bridge at the Talbragar River crossing is a $3 million project that has been in the planning and development stages since 2004 and is scheduled for construction in 2013. He said the new bridge at the Talbragar River crossing will replace the existing causeway with a two-lane, five-span concrete structure.

“Earthworks for the southern road approach to the crossing have commenced and it is proposed to call for tenders later this year for the design and construction of the bridge,’’ Mr Clayton said.

“Council has had to accumulate sufficient funds for the project over a number of years from the Rural Roads annual capital works program.

“This process had been interrupted by periods of wet weather damage to the unsealed road network, where capital funds had to be reallocated for urgent maintenance to damaged roads.’’

Mr Clayton said Old Mendooran Road has been progressively bitumen sealed from the Golden Highway past the Talbragar River causeway, with about 30 per cent of its length sealed to date.

“The section of gravel at the Talbragar River crossing will be bitumen sealed when the road is realigned in conjunction with the bridge construction in 2013.”

Some residents complained of a lack of adequate flood signage at either end of Old Mendooran Road on Wednesday.

Mr Clayton said council had a procedure for the inspection and closure of waterway crossings when rain events were likely to make them impassable to traffic, including a patrol to check water depth and erect warning signs.

Council said there were “water over road” signs located at the Talbragar River crossing for the past few months due to consistent water flow across the causeway.

“Fixed road closure advisory signs that can be manually folded out to reveal the message “road closed at Talbragar River” are located on Old Mendooran Road at the Boothenba Road intersection and Mendooran Road intersection,” he said.

“This was completed at both ends prior to 10am, Wednesday.’’

lisa.minner@ruralpress.com