Alpine Shire has committed another $200,000 in an amended contract as it seeks to deliver the much anticipated Nimmo Pedestrian Bridge.

Councillors last week unanimously voted to approve another $214,466 (excl. GST) to the contract awarded to North East Civil Construction for $540,850 in March 2024.

The variation results in an unbudgeted spend of $199,981 (excl. GST) and takes the total contract to more than $755,000.

The project is jointly funded by Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) to the value of $478,675, with council responsible for an additional co-contribution of $287,730.

During the design phase of the project, several different locations for the bridge were investigated to ensure the design criteria could be met without a detrimental effect on the existing road bridge.

After these investigations, a location downstream of the road bridge was determined to be the best location and a detailed geotechnical report was produced to inform the foundation design, with the final engineering design completed in March, 2026.

Cr Gareth Graham, who has been invested in the local project for nine years, said he feared the new foot bridge's installation would turn into a 'white elephant'.

"The earlier plan proposed, [which involved a foot bridge] canter-levering off the side of the road bridge on the upstream side was, I still believe, the best option," he said.

"The plan was refused by VicRoads, who own the bridge, for their reasoning alone."

Cr Graham said the current plan requires pedestrians to cross the road three times to get to the beach at Nimmo Reserve and three times on the return trip.

"I estimate it might have cost $150,00 to $200,000 to build a canter-levered walkway," he said.

"Instead we are now faced with what I consider is a sub-optimal location and a cost of $766,405.

"Given the need for additional work, or footpaths and road crossings, we are probably heading towards $1 million by the time it's finished.

"Now, spending $1 million [to save] one life is justified.

"We're currently on our third time-extension until the end of November, so this may be our last extension if we can't get it done on time.

"To me, this is bureaucracy gone mad."

Council director of assets, Sarah Buckley, said now there is a fixed price for the final design, it is unlikely there will be any further variation.

"Unless there's some strange latent conditions on site which we weren't prepared for, this should be the final costing," she said.

"The process to try and find the exact location was unusual; due to a variety of challenges, this project's been going on for quite some time.

"[In retrospect]; we [can] take more time in the pre-planning to land on the final location first, even though we thought [the original design] was going ahead."

Ms Buckely said project managers were considering potential upgrades to the footpath, pedestrian line of sight, if crossing points were appropriate on the VicRoads-owned Buffalo River Road and planting vegetation to guide users to the bridge.

In conjunction with this approval from council, an extension of time will be required from ERV to allow the budget approval and construction to take place.

"We've got until the end of November for an extension on the grant agreement," Ms Buckley said.

"Project managers are hopeful we will have it finished by October, [as] that gives us a month before the grant funding expires.

"I'd [like to] take this opportunity to thank the community for their patience on this [matter] because I understand, to them it looks like it's been delayed [after many] challenges, but yes, we have heard they very much still want the bridge.

"The cost of the bridge is almost identical to what we originally estimated."

Ms Buckley said council intends to release further details to the Myrtleford community over the next three to four weeks.

Myrtleford resident Ron Janas, who served as an Alpine Shire councillor when the original Nimmo Pedestrian Bridge project was approved, said community safety was a key factor to the proposed structure's design.

Mr Janas said several elements, such as VicRoad upgrades to the existing bridge and changes to the proposed foot-bridge's location, had caused delays.

"I can't fail to be disappointed at the sheer waste of resources and the bureaucratic ineptitude surrounding the most important piece of infrastructure for Myrtleford," he said.

"I want to thank our two local councillors for continuing to support and advocate for this project."