Kurow Museum committee member Bob Watherston said the display would be an ''honorable conclusion'' to the bridges' history.
Two 12-metre sections are to be preserved for public display, one of which will be re-constructed as a railway bridge.
''It was a rail bridge at some stage for 30 years - we want to reinstate that,'' he said.
Other ideas included making a semi-enclosed display with an all-weather pictorial and written history of the bridges, and using timbers from the bridge around the town for other purposes.
A booklet will be produced on the history, with statistics on what had come out of the Waitaki Valley, transported over the bridges, he said.
The displays, a permanent memory of what the bridges mean to the community, will be ''clearly visible'' from State Hwy 82.
''The bridges have been part of our history for 130 years - there was never any question about us forgetting them,'' he said.
The project is being driven by the Kurow Museum Committee and Kurow's Town Enhancement Group, who have been given advice by Heritage New Zealand.
''We've got a very good team and no lack of volunteer groups,'' he said.
The cost of the entire project had not been evaluated, but Mr Watherston said a lot of the work would be done voluntarily.
''The contractors [McConnell Dowell Constructors Ltd] have been quite exceptional - they've been particularly good community people, and I think the support we'll get from them will be invaluable,'' he said.
NZTA southern regional director Jim Harland said jointly measuring 762m long when built, the bridges were among the largest wooden structures of the time. Bridge No1, to the north, remains the longest wooden Howe truss bridge in the South Island.
Both new bridges are now open, but contractor McConnell Dowell Constructors Ltd will remain on site until early October, deconstructing the timber bridges as well as completing development of the road approaches to the new bridges and sealing the bridge decks. That work is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Work on the permanent display on Kurow Island would continue in 2015, Mr Watherston said.
A celebration would be held when beams from the old bridges were lowered on to Kurow Island.
