"It's a disaster waiting to happen," said Maggie Kent.

Maggie and Bill Kent use the bridge to reach their property on the eastern side of Gap Creek. But they feel it is a perilous journey to and from home. The couple pointed out broken railings, loose and rotting decking, and, due to erosion on the bank, the bridge was leaning and sinking on one side.

"It's dreadful, from my perspective," said Bill Kent, a retired ship's captain.

Across the creek from the Kents' property is a business, Ridgeview Equestrian. The business' owner, Regina Hackl, said she had cautioned horse riders not to use the bridge.

"They could canter across here and have a fatal accident," she said, pointing to a damaged plank in the deck. "And motorbike riders. Can you imagine a motorbike wheel going in that?"

The residents are not the only ones concerned about the bridge's condition.

Luke Masters is the captain of the Martinsville Rural Fire Brigade and has recently inspected the bridge.

Beyond the bridge is a fire trail, accessing a part of the Watagans National Park. But Luke Masters has said, "I won't be taking any vehicle across it".

"It's deteriorated to the point you can't think it would hold any substantial weight," the experienced volunteer firefighter said, explaining the brigade's larger vehicle weighed about 13.5 tonnes and the smaller appliance about 3.5 tonnes.

"It would be a very high risk to put tankers across there. I'd be worried about even an ambo over there."

"It needs to be able to carry a big fire engine across it, and at the moment it can't," Maggie Kent said of the bridge. "We can barely get our cars over."

The residents said they had been contacting Lake Macquarie City Council and NSW government agencies for years about the bridge, but the issue had slipped between the cracks of local and state government.

"It's a bit like Yes, Minister," said Mr Kent. "Things are just not actually happening. A lot of talk and rhetoric but nobody's doing anything."

Helen Plummer, the council's manager asset management, said the bridge and the road leading to it were on Crown land. While the council had been in discussions with the state agency about taking over the bridge's ownership, that was not yet resolved.

"As it stands, it would be a Crown responsibility," Ms Plummer said of the bridge's maintenance. She appreciated the residents' concerns about the bridge, but, "given this one isn't actually ours, I can't prioritise it [for work] against those we do own".

A spokesperson for the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment - Crown Lands said in a statement, "Crown Lands did not construct or authorise the construction of the road and bridge".

"Lake Macquarie City Council has traditionally maintained Pointers Road and the bridge as part of its local road network," the spokesperson said.

The residents simply want the bridge to be repaired, and quickly, or even replaced.

"If they don't do something about it, someone's going to die," said Ms Hackl.

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