The closure of NSW's oldest standing timber truss bridge has left residents of a Hunter Valley town with an hour-long round trip to reach the essentials.   

Clarence Town's Brig O'Johnstone Bridge closed to traffic a fortnight ago when it was damaged by a heavy vehicle. It is not expected to open imminently. 

Local café owner Taleah Kalisz's business is being severely impacted by the closure, which splits the town's population of 2,200 people in two.

Ms Kalisz's café is on the eastern side of the town, and she said before the bridge closure, she would typically see about $500 a day go into the till.

This week she had to let two of her staff go and is considering closing permanently.

Repair time frame unknown

In a statement to the ABC, a Transport for NSW (TfNSW) spokesperson said it would be another week before a repair plan and timeline could be finalised.

"TfNSW bridge engineers have completed their under-bridge inspections and are assessing the information collected to inform how repairs will be carried out," the spokesperson said.

Prior to the most recent damage, a new bridge had been funded by state and federal governments in 2020.

In documents seen by the ABC, Dungog Shire Council estimates the cost of the new bridge has blown out by $4.86 million since initial budgeting in 2020.

Mayor John Connors said the cost blowout was due to increased building costs and lengthy design reviews to retain the heritage of the existing bridge.

NSW Roads Minister John Graham and federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King visited the Hunter Valley on Wednesday but did not visit Clarence Town.

"This is one of the most beautiful heritage bridges in the state, and I understand how important it is to the community of Clarence Town," Mr Graham said.

"Given the history of the bridge … it's also not a simple project."

Mr Graham said it was unclear how long before the bridge would reopen.

The original bridge works' funding is also under review. Federal government funding of $8.8 million is being examined under a 90-Day Infrastructure Review, a probe of about 800 federally-funded projects.

"What the review is about is making sure we've got enough money to deliver the projects because the previous government announced projects without actually having all of the money available," Ms King said.

She said the review should be finalised in about six weeks.

Councillor Connors said it was not good enough.

Community frustration

Many in the community said the lack of urgency of repairs would not be an issue if Clarence Town was a suburb of Sydney.

"To spend an hour driving or however long it takes you to walk to school really impacts on the working day," Clarence Town Public School's P and C president Sarah Beynon said.

"It's 24 kilometres one way. So that's obviously a massive increase to your fuel expenses.”

She said she hoped a quick solution could be found.

"We get excited every once in a while when the funding gets announced or when moves are afoot to make it happen," Ms Beynon said.