The Olympic Highway in south western NSW is an important road freight transport route between Albury and Cowra in NSW’s central west and is a major route between Melbourne and Brisbane. A landscape character and visual impact assessment was undertaken for the construction of a new bridge to replace an existing 1880s structure over the Sydney to Melbourne railway line and the 2.7km realignment of the Olympic Highway. 

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The new alignment provides a sequence of views leading from the open landscape through the cutting into a more enclosed landscape on the southern approach into Wagga Wagga. The cutting and new bridge provides a sense of drama as the scale of the landscape changes and it transitions from a rural landscape into a more urban setting. 

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Assessment of the landscape character and visual impact proposes a series of urban and landscape design measures to mitigate the impacts on the surrounding areas including the use of native species, simplification of the bridge design and reduction of the cut and fill batter slopes.