YARRAWONGA'S weir road bridge has now been scheduled to close in July 2021 after having long been scheduled to shut this year.
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The Murray-Darling Basin Authority, which controls the weir, announced the delay in the shutdown on Friday morning.
The hold-up has been prompted by the need for upgrade works to be done on what will become the sole crossing between Yarrawonga and Mulwala, the bridge the towns' commercial hearts from Bemore Street to Melbourne Street.
Transport for NSW director south west Lindsay Tanner confirmed that work and forecast it would take more than a year.
"Initially closure (of the weir bridge) was expected in 2020, but it has been postponed to allow for maintenance work by Transport for NSW on the Yarrawonga Mulwala Bridge first," Mr Tanner said.
"We are yet to finalise the work schedule but anticipate starting to repair the bridge's steel truss and upgrade traffic and pedestrian barriers in April or May 2020.
"This work, which is jointly funded by Regional Roads Victoria, is likely to be completed by the end of June 2021."
The MDBA's head of river management Andrew Reynolds, said the closure of the weir road, first flagged in 2003, was aimed at safeguarding the water-regulating structure and its workers.
"The crossing has been an important part of the region's history since the weir was built in 1939 and has played a pivotal role in connecting the communities on either side of the Murray River," Mr Reynolds said.
"The weir's limited role as a bridge has been long recognised by the Yarrawonga and Mulwala communities and the time has come for it to close, which marks the end of an era."
An estimated 1200 crossings of the weir are made each day, compared with 8500 trips over the Yarrawonga Mulwala Bridge.