Bridges named after local residents

(Alexey Turenkov/Unsplash)

Two bridges in Wyndham will be named after community members to give them independent identifiers to make it easier for emergency services to locate them.

The Ballan Road bridge will now be named after George Scolaro, the founding member of the Italian Social Club of Werribee and a concreter who built many landmarks in the area including council offices, schools, industrial sites and Werribee Police Station.

The bridge at Derrimut Road will be named in honour of Nino Arrigo, an active member of the Werribee Rotary club for more than 40 years.

Mr Arrigo also rode a bicycle from Perth to Melbourne and raise $160,000 for cancer research.

“George Scolaro and Nino Arrigo’s contributions to the community will now be remembered for decades to come,” Tarneit MP Sarah Connolly said.

“There is still a chance for people to put forward names for three more bridges, so other local figures can be commemorated well into the future.”

The bridges names were chosen through VicTrack’s Bridge Naming Competition, which enabled locals to nominate names for the bridges that commemorate a community member or event.

As well as the bridges at Derrimut Road and Ballan Road, the latest round of the Bridge Naming Competition asked residents to name bridges at Doherty’s Road, Davis Road and Leakes Road.

All five bridges were built as part of the Regional Rail Link Project and look very similar, which could make it hard to tell them apart in an emergency.

Werribee MP Tim Pallas said he encourages people to continue to nominate names to give the bridges a unique identity.

“It’s great to see these bridges have been named after local people who gave so much to the Werribee community,” he said.

VicTrack is seeking any further nominations for the bridges at Davis Road, Dohertys Road and Leakes Road.

Details: victrack.com.au/bridge