Nine months after severe storms washed away the culvert along the Corlette road, forcing its closure, construction on a bridge to connect the two sides was complete this week and Foreshore Drive opened to traffic on Thursday.

"Despite some challenges and delays our team has worked hard to ensure the road reopening was achieve ahead of Christmas as promised," Port Stephens Council stated.

"Works onsite will resume in mid-January to complete the outstanding asphalt surface, linemarking, guard railing and footpath connections.

"Council intends to keep the road open and undertake the outstanding works under traffic control conditions."

There is a strict three tonne load limit on the bridge, which traffic must adhere to.

Newly re-elected mayor Ryan Palmer thanked to community for its patience while the council repaired the road.

"[Council] staff and contractors have done an amazing job to have this opened as planned prior to Christmas after the road was washed away only nine months ago," he said.

In September, Port Stephens Council resolved to place a prefabricated bridge over the section of Foreshore Drive that washed away in March.

Works to install an InQuik Bridge over the gaping culvert in Corlette's Mambo Wetlands began mid-November with the council pledging that the road would be open "in time for Christmas".

Port councillors approved $7 million in natural disaster repairs in June. Of that, $1.8m was directed towards repairing the culvert.

The culvert was one of the first structures in Port Stephens that was reported damaged in the record rainfall and flood event that struck the region in March.

The Mambo Wetlands Landcare and Conservation Group floated the idea of a Bailey Bridge, a type of portable, prefabricated, truss bridge, as a fix for the culvert in May.

"A bridge over the inlet, which would allow tidal water, regardless of weather, to flow freely in and out of the wetlands, is a reasonable idea," group president Roz Armstrong said.

It is a fix that the council has pursued, with facilities and services manager Greg Kable stating that the InQuik Bridge ticked all the boxes.

"We considered all options for the replacement of this culvert - an engineering project of this nature in an environmentally sensitive area is critical," he said.

"It's a prefabricated bridge, which expedites installation and minimises disruption to the environment. We're not removing or disrupting parts of the estuary and the design doesn't produce spoil or sulphate.

"The bridge creates a bigger channel for flood water to move through should we encounter a similar weather event in future. Better flow will also increase the water quality within the estuary."

Once complete, the bridge will have a 2.4m footpath on the downstream side of bridge safe pedestrian access.

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