Speaking with media on Tuesday morning, council general manager Peter Thompson said a design evaluation showed ‘millions’ would be saved by using existing sections.

“When we did the detailed design work, the additional cost in getting approaches to the new bridge structure would be significant and by significant, I mean some millions of dollars,” he said.

Mr Thompson said testing was ongoing to ensure a bridge incorporating old sections would have the same result as a new bridge.

“It’s still a significant project and will be roughly around $10 million but we’ll save approximately $4 million and we won’t have to remove any trees,” he said.

Council released tenders for the design component of a new bridge in March 2017.

More to come.