The Story Bridge should serve as a warning - and an opportunity
The butterfly effect caused by that crack, about the thickness of a fingernail, sparked traffic chaos across Brisbane of a type not seen before.
Loading
It’s been mostly smooth sailing since, but that won’t always be the case.
Concrete and steel specifications in 1973 no longer meet modern standards, so while the Riverside Expressway is safe, it would have been built at a higher standard had it opened in 2023. A repeat of 2007 at some point in the next few decades is not beyond the realms of possibility.
The fact is, the road network has already reached its half-life, which means we have until the mid-2070s – by which point I’d be statistically likely to have fallen off the perch – to come up with a long-lasting solution.
Of course, in any piece of major infrastructure, design lives can be extended through maintenance and improvements, but that’s not what should be happening in this case.
Of late premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s many crimes against this city, the Riverside Expressway is possibly the most visually offensive and planning should start now on destroying all evidence it ever existed.
The Riverside Expressway has long been regarded as a blight on Brisbane – an eyesore on what should be one of the most publicly accessible areas of riverfront land in the CBD.
The work needs to start now to work out how that can be done.
Can public transport be brought up to a sufficient level to negate the need for an inner-city expressway? Can the whole thing be put underground to add to Brisbane’s tunnel network?
Whatever happens, returning Brisbane city’s North Bank to the people must be front and centre of any design. It would be a city-changing project with generational benefits.
Loading
It won’t require huge expenditure any time soon and, spread over decades, proper planning and preparation could be done at relatively minimal cost.
There will be many changes of government between now and project delivery – this is not a political fight for today.
But the Crisafulli government can get the ball rolling now, so future leaders aren’t saddled with the cost of past inaction.
A future premier, who may not even be born yet, would not want to be caught on the hop in the way Schrinner has found himself of late.
