The heritage-listed bridge collapsed last Thursday, just days before a scheduled inspection by engineers.

Light Regional Council mayor Bill O’Brien said the collapse “came as a bit of a shock to us when it came tumbling down and now we’re deeply concerned about its future”.

Built by Messrs Hack and Parker for the Central Roads Board in 1876, the 26-metre-long timber bridge was used to transport vehicles over the Gawler River for the first 90 years of its life until 1966.

The bridge was restored in 1988 to fix rotten timbers and continued to be used as a pedestrian crossing until around three years ago.

“We’re very mindful of heritage and the importance of it,” O’Brien said.

“There were only three of these bridges in Australia. The other two are both no longer there, so it’s a fairly important item. Nobody wants to see the little bit of heritage that we have in parts of our regions disappear.”

The Heaslip Road bridge, which linked Light Regional Council and the City of Playford, was slated for restoration.

The two councils had planned to restore the bridge, stating that “Angle Vale Bridge has deteriorated and now has significant defects and decay” in their respective 22/23 budgets.

Between the two councils, they were able to set aside $1.2m for “the refurbishment and conservation of the bridge”.

“Playford have been wonderful over this period and before and have basically driven this project,” O’Brien said.

“Ironically, the engineers were coming up this week to inspect it because, in the last few months or so, it has been shifting a little bit, so they were on their way.”

“The damage that’s been caused this time to the integrity of the wood and structure and so forth are going to take a lot of assessment,” O’Brien said.

“I think in the initial inspection, there was concern about the integrity of that wood and whether it would stand up to any restoration process. However, we’re not going to say that it can’t happen.”