Latest news with #StoryBridge
News.com.au
29-05-2025
- General
- News.com.au
Massive planned protest across Brisbane's Story Bridge during peak hour derailed after court blocks demonstration
A planned protest which would have shut down all six lanes of Brisbane's Story Bridge during peak hour has been blocked by a court, after police claimed there were major safety concerns and the risk of massive public disruption. The demonstration, scheduled for 8am Friday, was organised by active transport advocates pushing for one vehicle lane to be dedicated to cyclists and pedestrians. But police asked Brisbane Magistrates Court to stop the process due to the risk of safety concerns if the protest were to go ahead. The court sided with the police, finding the demonstration could delay emergency services, interfere with public transport, and compromise safety. While protesters won't be allowed to occupy the bridge at the intended time, organisers say they remain committed to pressuring Brisbane City Council to prioritise active transport access amid ongoing footpath closures. The footpaths on the Story Bridge have been shut since March after inspections uncovered structural issues, including concrete degradation and rusted reinforcements. The council has pledged to reopen the paths once urgent safety works are completed, ahead of a broader restoration project expected to take up to 15 years. An independent committee recently warned that, without a full restoration, the 85-year-old bridge could be unable to carry traffic within two decades. The long-term fix is forecast to be beyond council's financial capacity, prompting discussions around federal funding, tolls, or special levies to foot the bill. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said earlier this week that local infrastructure remains the responsibility of local governments, pushing back on suggestions the Commonwealth should shoulder the restoration costs. However, the federal government has contributed $2.25 million toward a joint business case exploring long-term options for the bridge. Despite the legal setback, protest organiser Kathryn Good said her group would continue advocating for safer and more accessible transport options across the bridge.
ABC News
29-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Court blocks planned protest for Brisbane's Story Bridge
A court has blocked a planned peak hour protest to shut down Brisbane's Story Bridge. Organisers had planned to blockade all six lanes from 8am on Friday, calling for the Brisbane City Council to dedicate one lane to cyclists and pedestrians. In his ruling, the magistrate said the protest would "compromise people's safety". "The balance here is the people who will be disrupted coming into town to work, the other issue is safety," the magistrate said. He said he agreed with Queensland Police Service's (QPS) decision to refuse the protest. The protesters were ordered to remove the event from social media and all public signage related to it. Acting Senior Sergeant Donna Kay told the court the protest would delay emergency services from accessing critical health care facilities and disrupt 115 programmed bus services, each one carrying about 90 passengers. Sergeant Kay said prior disruptions of this kind had flow-on effects, shutting down the CBD and major road corridors for two hours afterwards. She said the protesters' right to peaceful assembly was "outweighed" by the right for members of the public to continue their business free from disruption. "The protests are not being stopped, they're just being asked to conduct it in a safe manner. Footpaths on the Story Bridge footpaths have been closed since March following an assessment after Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, and the council has not provided a timeline of when they will re-open. Protest organiser Kathryn Good said she was saddened by the ruling but would consider other avenues to call for action. "It's disappointing, it's not the outcomes we were hoping for and it's not the outcome we were seeking from the court," Ms Good said. "We won't be giving up the fight to put pressure on council to open up that lane for active transport."
News.com.au
27-05-2025
- General
- News.com.au
‘Extinction Rebellion on wheels' threatens to shut down Brisbane's Story Bridge over missing bike lane
One of Brisbane's busiest bridges could be shut down by protesters during peak-hour traffic to demand a lane be allocated for bikes. Members of Space for Cycling Brisbane and its supporters plan to march across all six lanes of the Story Bridge between 8am and 9am on Friday. The protest, calling for one of the lanes to be altered to a bike, scooter and pedestrian only travelway, comes following the closures of the footpaths on either side of the bridge in March ahead of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. A structural assessment was later carried out by engineers, who found water to be leaking through the concrete. According to organisers of the protest, there has been 'no time frame' given to the public on the reopening of the footpaths nor an appropriate alternate detour made available. 'There are thousands of people who use the Story Bridge daily who have had their commutes and travel impacted for well over two months now,' a message from the organisers read. 'It is now clear that the footpaths over the bridge are unsafe to travel on, however more frustrating than the closure is the lack of communication from the council and the lack of a suitable detour. 'Council has multiple times published suggested detours that aren't possible.' A detour is in place for cyclists and pedestrians using the new Kangaroo Point Bridge, while CityCat and KittyKat services also link Kangaroo Point to the city and Howard Smith Wharves. The move has been slammed by Brisbane City councillor Andrew Wines, after the group was coined 'Extinction Rebellion on wheels' by Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner during a council meeting on Tuesday. 'Brisbane commuters need to be aware of a dangerous and disruptive protest that will shut down traffic on the Story Bridge during peak hour on Friday morning,' Mr Wines said in a statement. 'The cycling activists, who are taking a leaf out of the Extinction Rebellion playbook, plan to proceed with their illegal protest at 8am on Friday despite concerns raised by Queensland Police and Brisbane City Council. 'They plan to hold Brisbane commuters to ransom and cause chaos, just like Extinction Rebellion did a few years ago. 'The protesters are trying to force the closure of a lane of Story Bridge to traffic so it can be used by cyclists and pedestrians while work is underway to repair the bridge footpaths. 'However, the chaos this protest will cause will just prove the point that it's simply not practical to close traffic lanes on the Story Bridge for the benefit of cyclists.' Mr Wines said expert analysis by council found two lanes of the bridge would need to be closed to safely allow cyclists and pedestrians to cross – causing 'daily traffic chaos' not just on the Story Bridge but across the city's road network. He added: 'We're working to ensure the footpaths are reopened within months.' Queensland Police are set to make a last-minute bid to stop the demonstrators from marching and will appear at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday. The court application was lodged after talks reportedly broke down between the two parties. 'Police and Brisbane City Council attempted to engage with the protest organiser in relation to suitable protest plans, however mediation was not successful,' the spokesperson told ABC News. 'Under provisions of the Peaceful Assembly Act, police will lodge documentation with Brisbane Magistrates Court for a decision to be made with respect to the Notice of Intention to Hold a Public Assembly.' Protest organiser Kathryn Good said the protest would not go ahead if the court ruled it to be illegal. 'Brisbane City Council have accused us of holding an illegal protest,' she wrote to supporters on Tuesday. 'This is not only factually untrue, but an absolutely outrageous statement to make.' She confirmed the organisers has submitted a Notice of Intention and informed Brisbane City Council ahead of time. 'The organisers including myself have engaged in good faith with QPS and BCC,' Ms Good added. 'We are aware that they are seeking a court order to prevent the process and we have every intention of complying with any court orders made.' Ms Good said the protest had no affiliation with Extinction Rebellion, or any other political party or group. More than 100 people are expected to march.
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Police make court bid to stop cycling protesters blocking Brisbane's Story Bridge
Police will make an eleventh-hour bid to stop cyclists shutting down Brisbane's Story Bridge at peak hour on Friday. Queensland Police Service (QPS) will appear at the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday to argue that the march, which would block all six lanes, should not go ahead on Friday morning. Protesters are demanding Brisbane City Council dedicate one lane to cyclists and pedestrians. The Story Bridge footpaths have been closed since March and council has repeatedly declined to say when they will re-open. Protest organiser Kathryn Good said council's detour was a "nightmare" that turned a 10 minute cycle into a dangerous 35 minute commute. "I'm personally aware of two people who have been involved in collisions while taking this detour," she said. "It takes you through really busy one-way CBD streets that don't have any protected infrastructure for bikes or scooters. "The point of protesting in peak hour is to point out the disparity between how motorists are treated when one major route into the city is closed for an hour, versus how active transport users are treated." She said the protest would not go ahead if the court ruled it to be illegal. At a council meeting on Tuesday, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the cycling activists would cause traffic chaos. "It is fully backed and supported by the Greens who want to disrupt the 96 per cent of people who want to use the bridge for the benefit of the 4 per cent of people who want to use the bridge." A QPS spokesperson said the court application had been made after talks broke down. "Police and Brisbane City Council attempted to engage with the protest organiser in relation to suitable protest plans, however mediation was not successful," the spokesperson said. "Under provisions of the Peaceful Assembly Act, police will lodge documentation with Brisbane Magistrates Court for a decision to be made with respect to the Notice of Intention to Hold a Public Assembly." The Story Bridge was made off limits to pedestrians due to the footpaths deteriorating. The Lord Mayor has repeatedly called on the state and federal government to help fund the bridge's repair. But on Tuesday Cr Schrinner acknowledged council had not actually asked the Queensland government for money. He said the council wanted to prepare a business case before making a formal request.
The Guardian
17-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
A bridge too far: Brisbane grapples with the multimillion-dollar cost of revitalising an icon
When the ribbon was cut on Brisbane's Story Bridge on 6 July 1940 it was not an auspicious time to open a new bridge. Five days earlier, the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge had opened in Washington State. In just four months that structure would make engineering history by dramatically swinging itself apart, a result of forces the engineering profession, at that time, did not understand. As one of the investigators wrote, 'bridge engineering is not, as popularly assumed, an exact science'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email In Brisbane, about 60,000 Queenslanders crossed the grand Story on opening day. The Courier-Mail enthused that it could take an extraordinary 40 cars a minute, despite the toll booths. Premier William Forgan Smith paid tribute to its designer, John Bradfield. The former NSW public servant, who died in 1943, is better known for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Smith said the Story Bridge was 'a lasting monument to his genius and ability'. The giant structure – a decades-old dream that had employed hundreds of the otherwise destitute during the Great Depression – cost just £1.6m, the premier said. That's about $77m in 2025 dollars; a bargain for a structure that is often described these days as Australia's second-most famous bridge. Eighty-five years later, the ratepayers of Brisbane face a new inexact engineering challenge. According to Brisbane mayor Adrian Schrinner, Bradfield's monument may not last much longer – and it will cost millions more to repair than it did to build back in 1940. After a report on its condition, released by the Brisbane city council this week, Schrinner's advice is the best options include begging the state and commonwealth for aid, a new rate levy, bringing back tolls for the first time since 1947, or knocking it down and replacing it. There have been rumblings of 'problems' with the bridge for some time. Cyclists and pedestrians have been banned from access to the bridge since the March cyclone, with little explanation. This week, the mayor said there was concern that any weight on the footpaths bolted to the side of the bridge could cause 'spalling', knocking bits of concrete off the bottom. Protective netting will be installed below, he said. Heavy trucks continue to cross the main part of the bridge on a regular basis. Brisbane is among Australia's most car-dependent cities. Space for Cycling's Belinda Ward said the bridge was one of the city's few safe bike routes. Its two small cycling routes can carry about twice as many people as the six lanes of general traffic, per hour. 'The obvious thing to do in the meantime is to close at least one lane on the main part of the bridge to general traffic and open that up for people walking and cycling across,' she said. There is not yet an estimated cost of the rebuild. But Schrinner compared the project to other bridge refurbishments that cost hundreds of millions. Ward said that would amount to an enormous amount of money just to repair an inner-urban freeway. She said its users ought to pay for the repairs, as they did last century. 'It doesn't seem right, honestly, to me, that people in regional Queensland or other Australian states should have to pay for the sort of ongoing funding of the Story Bridge,' she said. 'So why not put a toll on it? And then people might consider perhaps using the Clem Jones tunnel instead or going by the Gateway Bridge.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Griffith University transport planning professor Matt Burke said it was effectively inevitable that the bridge would need a rethink, probably with a pair of grade-separated bus lanes. He said even removing the bridge wouldn't cause disaster. Cities that remove their freeways – like London's Hammersmith Bridge – often expect a huge increase in congestion, but instead find 'traffic just dissipated'. 'More people caught public transport, people businesses adjusted when they do deliveries and other things. Kids were told, you're not getting driven to school, you're catching the bus now sunshine, just all sorts of small behavioural steps were taken.' A six-lane freeway is 'a pretty profligate use of scarce road space in the inner city,' he said. Council is now planning a new temporary walking and cycling path to be attached to the bridge. It is expected to be done 'in a matter of months'. Brisbane city council is the southern hemisphere's largest local government. But even it is facing financial trouble, slashing hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs to make up the budget. The council opposition criticised Schrinner this week for overspending on troubled projects like several other bridges and over-budget road projects. Opposition leader Jared Cassidy said the bridge has been deemed an 'at risk structure' since 2016 but ignored. But the mayor said the bridge was designed to last a century, and he needs state and commonwealth cash to keep it going beyond that date. 'Giving the Story Bridge a funeral for its 100th birthday is not acceptable. We have got the skill sets to fix it, and we will fix it, and we'll all be terribly proud of what we're creating,' Schrinner said. The commonwealth government has already offered a helping hand, partially funding a business case for the full refurbishment. It is due in mid 2027. State and federal ministers signalled this week they would only consider supporting the project further after it has been completed. Griffith's Burke said the repair job could cost up to a billion dollars. 'It's not going to be cheap and it's going to be very disruptive. And that's just what happens with assets of this age,' he said. 'The risk of collapse within the next 10 to 15 years is material. Australians are used to a very high standard of maintenance on their roadway systems, their bridges, etc. We do not tolerate a lot of risk.'
