The 124-year-old Beaumont bridge is one of several dilapidated river crossings on Otago's interior state highway network scheduled for replacement as part of a proposed regional transport funding programme.
However, the ageing State Highway 8 bridge across the Clutha River will have to last at least another two years before a proposed date for construction to start, a report says.
A new bridge at Beaumont, a replacement crossing at Queenstown's SH6 southern gateway at Kawerau Falls, and strengthening of the Clydevale bridge, near Balclutha, have all been identified as priority projects for Otago's transport network.
Members of the Otago Regional Council's transport committee will meet next month to decide on a draft programme of prioritised infrastructure projects.
Otago's ageing road bridges have been noted as an issue of concern in need of being addressed at a meeting of transport committee members in Dunedin, yesterday.
A transport report from ORC senior policy analyst Suzanne Watt was tabled at the meeting to committee members, who represent the region's six local council authorities and other public service organisations.
Construction of a new bridge at Beaumont is planned to start in 2014, after strengthening work at the Clydevale crossing in 2012-13, the ORC report says.
Investigation and design stages for the Beaumont bridge is included in the 2012-15 programme.
The report sets out a proposed Otago Regional Land Transport Programme, which outlines the funding priorities for about $423 million worth of projects during the next three years.
Replacement of the Kawerau Falls bridge at Frankton is not included in the priority list of works proposed in the 2012-15 programme, but is "tentatively planned" for 2016, the ORC report says.
The New Zealand Transport Agency spends about $590,000 every year to extend the life of the Beaumont bridge - an amount which was considered "cost effective", NZTA transport planning manager Ian Duncan said last October.
