00:02It's been 109 days since the bridge built by convicts was closed.
00:07Now the state government has chosen a contractor to fix it.
00:11They tell me that they are going to plan to work on this 24-7.
00:15Seymour White will drill deep into the bedrock of the old Mitchells Causeway
00:19to support a new bridge on top of it.
00:22It's expected to take more than a year.
00:24You can actually build the road of the future
00:27and make sure you preserve what is a very important piece of history.
00:31Putting a figure on it at this point would be premature
00:34because we're still in that final design stage.
00:37The government has expanded its financial support package for businesses
00:40with grants of $10,000 or $25,000 available.
00:44Look, it's a buffer. It's not replacing income.
00:49How far is $10,000 going to go for a business?
00:53Rod Gurney says he's been forced to close his shop
00:56that he's run with his wife after 30 years.
00:59There's nobody coming to buy anything.
01:01We went from a $1.8 million business to $20 days.
01:05While the contractor works day and night to build a new bridge,
01:09it's Lithgow that will keep bearing the brunt of 12,000 vehicles a day
01:14snaking through its streets for another year.
01:17And the traffic is just horrific, so people can't get to us.
01:21And I sit here at the back, I could sit down and cry.
01:2330 years.
01:25A community calling for more help to bridge the gap.
01:2830 days."
01:3037 years' problems.
01:32This makes sense for 300 gentlemen.
01:3230 years.
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