ROADS and Maritime Service (RMS) have secured a $50,000 grant to assess Dora Creek bridge.
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The bridge has been a source of frustration for locals for years.
Complaints have been raised about pedestrian access, its inability to handle large trucks and general state of repair.
In a meeting with residents on Monday, RMS regional manager for the Hunter, Anna Zycki, said the money had yet to be allocated to a specific task.
"At this stage, it's very early days," Ms Zycki told residents.
"It's not clear what exactly will be investigated.
"There's a couple of things happening here - there's things around the bridge itself, there are issues around pedestrian access, and there have also been a couple of developer proposals over the years.
"We have to tie all that together so we probably won't know what we will use that $50,000 on for a while yet," Ms Zycki said.
"We have to look at what the requirements might be and it could be a couple of years before we have a final solution."
At the community meeting, Dora Creek resident Paul Huntley suggested dropping the speed limit around the bridge to 40 or 50 km/h.
RMS co-ordination manager for Central Coast and Lake Macquarie, Corinne Thompson, said that a speed zone review was possible but the bridge might not meet the criteria for a lower speed zone.
Resident Margaret Mannile said that people's lives should be a good enough reason to lower the speed zone.
"Just because it's a little town doesn't change anything - a life's a life," Ms Mannile said.
Residents also proposed making the bridge a B-double free zone, which would force large trucks to the M1 Pacific Motorway, bypassing the bridge.
However, Ms Thompson said that the road had been assessed and meets the criteria for handling B-double traffic.