Prior to the bridges being built, river crossings were often dangerous in times of rain, which caused bulk freight movement to be prohibitively expensive for most agricultural and mining produce.

Only the high priced wool clip of the time was able to carry the costs and inconvenience imposed by the generally inadequate river crossings that often existed prior to the trusses construction.

Timber truss bridges were preferred by the Public Works Department from the mid 19th to the early 20th century because they were relatively cheap to construct, and used mostly local materials.

This is a reflection of the changing mindset of the NSW people, who were slowly accepting that American ideas could be as good as or better than European ones.

An Armco guardrail protects vehicular traffic, and a timber post and rail fence is provided on the footpath.

The bridge also has a lift span to allow river traffic under it, which is a rare feature that also contains much technical significance and information about engineering technology of the late 19th century.

[1] Dunmore Bridge over the Paterson River was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 20 June 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.

[1] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

Through this, the complete set of bridges gain some social significance, as they could be said to be held in reasonable esteem by many travellers in NSW.

[1] The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

Highly rare - only combination of overhead Allan truss and lift span[1] The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.