Brisbane's Lord Mayor is calling for state and federal funding to restore the story bridge and prevent the council being forced to introduce a toll.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Well anyone that's been here, lived here or looked up Brisbane on Google would have seen
00:07this icon right behind me.
00:10It's the Story Bridge and actually most recently it became the first bridge in the world to
00:15offer an accessible bridge climb.
00:17Now this independent report was commissioned by the Brisbane City Council and it was looking
00:22into the long term investment of restoration works for the Story Bridge so that it could
00:28be returned to its former glory and what the report found was the 85 year old bridge was
00:33nearing the end of its operational lifespan.
00:36There are a number of issues that were listed including ailing infrastructure, leakages as
00:42well as parts of concrete underneath the bridge that were virtually peeling away due to deterioration.
00:48Now the report stated that if nothing was done about the issues over the next 15 years,
00:53by 2032, when the Olympic and Paralympic Games roll around, there would need to be a reduced
00:59operational capacity on the bridge.
01:01And then by 2035, that's when freight and public transport would have to cease crossing
01:06the bridge.
01:07And by 2040, that would be the end of the operational lifespan of the Story Bridge.
01:14Now this committee that's been in charge of this report, it's been chaired by Nigel Charmier,
01:19who has been in charge and steered a number of projects in terms of restoration around
01:24Brisbane, including Brisbane City Hall, as well as Anzac Square, has concluded that effectively
01:30the Brisbane City Council no longer has the means to be able to foot a lot of the restoration
01:35bill.
01:36And what they've suggested is three options in terms of funding.
01:39The first is joint funding between the federal and state government alongside the Brisbane
01:44City Council that would need to be agreed upon over the next 15 years.
01:48The second option was to introduce or reintroduce a toll on the bridge.
01:53And that's been likened to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
01:56And the last option is a special levy that would be footed for Brisbane ratepayers.
02:02Now there's been mixed reviews to all three options.
02:05Some have said that they would rather just pay a toll and others say that they would rather
02:09the state and federal government help fund a lot of that project.
02:12certainly many have said that they would rather this issue sorted out sooner rather than later.
02:18I think that one has had a few high purity.
02:19So this is the current policy, which is the congressionaletaan and the意思 called the
02:20scheme association, which i would ratherli in the history of the staff with the
02:22collection of yards.
02:24So it's a really, really special interest, but this is really expensive.
02:26And you can educate the project in this particular field and if
02:27from now onseits that there's the plan in the city is required of experience to give a
02:30mass of thenjoring and that people would have seen the plan.
02:32Back to you, 750 consumers in this particular territory.
02:33It's a very distinctive case of what it impacts on working on there and according to the
02:35foundation outside itself.
02:36So we will...
02:38It'll have to do this really interesting two sets all the joints, the power Vadilla