Bridges over the Brisbane River

The Brisbane River, running through Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, is crossed by fifteen major bridges, from the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges downstream to the Centenary upstream. The river meanders through an urban area that comprises 1.8 million people.

There are two smaller crossings in the west of Brisbane City in the suburb of Mount Crosby: the Mount Crosby Weir, and Colleges Crossing (which straddles the boundary between Brisbane and Ipswich).

Planning

A bridge downstream of the Victoria Bridge was part of a larger plan, devised by Professor Roger Hawken of the University of Queensland in the 1920s, for a series of bridges over the Brisbane River to alleviate congestion on Victoria Bridge and to divert traffic away from the Brisbane central business district. The William Jolly Bridge was the first of the Hawken Plan bridges to be constructed. Lack of funds precluded the construction of the downstream bridge at that time. Initially plans called for a transporter bridge further downstream near New Farm.

In 1926 Kangaroo Point was recommended by the Brisbane City Council's Cross River Commission.^[1] Subsequently the bridge was constructed as a public works program during the Great Depression. The cost was to be no more than ₤1.6 million.^[2]

Major bridges

#	Name	Usage	Description	Photo
1	Sir Leo Hielscher (two bridges) — original bridge formerly known as the Gateway Bridge	vehicles, cyclists & pedestrians	Original bridge opened January 1986. Duplicate bridge opened May 2010. Concrete box girder design. 260 metre (853 ft) main span.[3]	Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges
2	Story	vehicles & pedestrians	Opened July 1940. Steel truss design. 777 metres (2,549 ft) long with a 282 metre (925 ft) main span.[4]	Story Bridge
3	Captain Cook	vehicles	Opened 1972. Concrete box girder design. 555 metres (1,821 ft) long with 183 metre (600 ft) main span.[5]	Captain Cook Bridge
4	Goodwill	pedestrians & cyclists	Opened October 2001. 450 metres (1,476 ft) long with 102 metre (335 ft) main span.[6]	Goodwill Bridge
5	Victoria	vehicles, cyclists & pedestrians	Opened 1969. Replaced its namesake. 146.3 metre (480 ft) main span.[7]	Victoria Bridge
6	Kurilpa	pedestrians & cyclists	Opened October 2009. 'Tensegrity' design. 425m long pathway[8]	Kurilpa Bridge
7	William Jolly — also known as Grey Street Bridge	vehicles & pedestrians	Opened March 1932. Concrete arch design. 498 metres (1,634 ft) long with a 73 metre (240 ft) main span.[9]	William Jolly Bridge
8	Merivale	rail	Opened November 1978. Tied steel arch design. Main span 132 metre (433 ft).[10]	Merivale Bridge
9	Go Between — formerly known as Hale Street Link.	vehicles, cyclists & pedestrians	Opened 5 July 2010. Concrete box girder balanced cantilever design.[11]	Go Between Bridge
10	Eleanor Schonell — formerly known as Green Bridge.	buses, cyclists & pedestrians	Opened December 2006. Cable-stayed design. 390 metres (1,280 ft) long.[12]	Eleanor Schonell Bridge
11	Jack Pesch	cyclists & pedestrians	Opened October 1998. Steel cable-stay design.[13]	Jack Pesch Bridge
12	Albert	rail	Opened 1895. Steel truss design. Replaced its namesake. 208 metres (682 ft) long with two spans each 103.7 metres (340 ft).[14]	Albert Bridge
13	Indooroopilly Railway	rail	Opened 1957. Steel truss design. 208.5 metres (684 ft) long with two equal spans.[15]	Indooroopilly Railway Bridge
14	Walter Taylor	vehicles & pedestrians	Opened February 1936. Suspension design. Main span 183 metres (600 ft). The bridge's towers are occupied.[16]	Walter Taylor Bridge
15	Centenary	vehicles, cyclists & pedestrians	Opened in 1964. Concrete girder[17]	Centenary Bridge

Map

Map of Bridges across the Brisbane River
Legend

  Brisbane River and Moreton Bay

  Road bridges

  Rail bridges

  Pedestrian only bridges

  Bus and pedestrian only bridges

Future bridges

In 2007 the Smart State Council announced plans for a series of new green mode bridges for Brisbane. New bridges include;

• a connection from Margaret Street near the Stock Exchange in the City to Thornton Street, Kangaroo Point.
• from Cairns Street Kangaroo Point a new bridge will connect to the end of the floating riverwalk at Merthyr Road, New Farm.
• and from Merthyr Road, Teneriffe a new bridge will connect to Hardcaste Park, Hawthorne (near Lindsay Street).

These new bridges will create a greenway corridor over 5 green bridges from Morningside, through Hawthorne, Teneriffe, New Farm, Kangaroo Point, City, Northbank, South Bank, Dutton Park and Boggo Road to the University of Queensland.^[18]

Crossings between the Centenary Bridge and Wivenhoe Dam

In addition to the existing bridges between Centenary Bridge and Wivenhoe Dam a number of others have been proposed.

The Goodna Bypass is designed to relieve congestion on the Ipswich Motorway and will have four new bridges over the river (but no access to or from the north-western suburbs). Land acquisitions were underway in 2010 to create the future transport corridor.^[19] As of 2010, there is no date or funding provided to commence the construction of the Goodna Bypass.

The Western Bypass would have included a crossing of the river but has been cancelled.^[20]

The existing crossings on this section of the river are listed below^[21] (note: coordinates are derived from Google Earth).

Name of crossing and/or road	Coordinates	Description and/or purpose	Photo
Moggill Ferry	27°35′41″S 152°51′22″E / 27.59472°S 152.85611°E / -27.59472; 152.85611 (Moggill Ferry)	Links Riverview to Moggill	Moggill ferry, 2008
Mount Crosby Road at Colleges Crossing	27°33′25″S 152°48′15″E / 27.55694°S 152.80417°E / -27.55694; 152.80417 (Colleges Crossing)	Links North Tivoli to Mount Crosby	College's Crossing, 2012
Allawah Road across Mount Crosby Weir	27°32′14″S 152°43′47″E / 27.53722°S 152.72972°E / -27.53722; 152.72972 (Mount Crosby Weir)	Adjacent to Mount Crosby Pumping Station	Bridge at the Mount Crosby Pumping Station, circa 1950
Kholo Bridge, Kholo Road	27°33′54.10″S 152°44′51.61″E / 27.5650278°S 152.7476694°E / -27.5650278; 152.7476694 (Kholo Bridge)	Links North Ipswich to Kholo	Pipeline being laid beside the Kholo Bridge, 1922
McMullen Road (ford, no longer used)		Links Borallon to farms at Lake Manchester
Summervilles Road (Burtons Bridge)	27°29′58″S 152°41′22″E / 27.49944°S 152.68944°E / -27.49944; 152.68944 (Burtons Bridge)	Links Borallon to farms at Lake Manchester, near Lake Manchester Dam	Summerville Road East crossing, 2014
Banks Creek Road (Savages Crossing)	27°26′37″S 152°40′13″E / 27.44361°S 152.67028°E / -27.44361; 152.67028 (Savages Crossing)	Links Fernvale to farms at Banks Creek	Savages Crossing, 2014
Brisbane Valley Highway	27°25′51″S 152°38′22″E / 27.43083°S 152.63944°E / -27.43083; 152.63944 (Brisbane Valley Highway crossing)	Between Fernvale and Wivenhoe Dam, taking the highway east of the river	Brisbane Valley Highway crossing, 2014
Wivenhoe Pocket Road (Twin Bridges)	27°26′13″S 152°38′00″E / 27.43694°S 152.63333°E / -27.43694; 152.63333 (Twin Bridges)	Links Fernvale to farms in Wivenhoe Pocket, crossing the river via an island	Wivenhoe Pocket Road crossing, 2014
Brisbane Valley Highway across Wivenhoe Dam	27°23′40″S 152°36′33″E / 27.39444°S 152.60917°E / -27.39444; 152.60917 (Winvenhoe Dam crossing)	The highway runs on top of the dam wall for 2.3 kilometres	Dam wall and main gates

Crossings from Lake Wivenhoe to Moore

Along the Brisbane River near Wivenhoe Bridge, 1917

Construction of a bridge over the Brisbane River at Allery's Crossing (Arababy Creek Road), Moore, 1931

When Lake Wivenhoe is full the waters extend many kilometres up the river.^[21] The first crossing upstream from the lake is a high level bridge built in conjunction with the dam to raise the Esk Kilcoy Road well above the maximum level of the lake. Several minor crossings of this section of the river shown on maps are omitted from the list below. The omitted crossings belong to one of the following groups:

• Former low level crossings now covered (most of the time) by the waters of Lake Wivenhoe.
• Public or private roads that provide access to farms on the eastern side of the river.
• Private roads or tracks that link parts of farms that are astride the river.

The more significant crossings from Lake Wivenhoe to Moore are listed below.

Upstream from Moore

Linville Road follows the river from Moore through Linville to the Mount Stanley State Forest.^[21] It crosses the river 12 times between Linville and its end, where it splits into Western Branch Road and Eastern Branch Road. Western Branch Road follows the west branch of the river to its source in Elgin Vale State Forest, north-west of Mount Stanley, crossing it 28 times. Eastern Branch Road follows the east branch most of the way to its source south-east of Mount Stanley, crossing it about 20 times before it ends.

See also

For information about tunnels which cross the Brisbane River, please check the Brisbane River page.

References

External links

• Historical Brisbane River Map - shows the positions of Brisbane bridges on the river
• Images of Brisbane bridges - a slideshow of historical images of Brisbane bridges from Picture Queensland, State Library of Queensland