Ipswich residents’ frustration as second Bremer River crossing proposed once again

For 50 long years, a group of Ipswich residents have fought for a second river crossing. Could the wait finally be over?

The Ipswich City Council is again making a push for a second river crossing to be built in the city, but neither residents nor the MP are getting their hopes up.

After years of discussion, the council has shared its hopes to secure $2.5 million in federal funding for the project.

Division 3 Councillor Andrew Fechner said this was “an important step to funding and finalising the necessary investigations to make this vital project shovel-ready.”

He said the need for a second bridge was becoming more apparent as the current Bremer River crossing, the David Trumpy Bridge, was operating overcapacity, carrying 40,000 vehicles a day due to population growth.

“Ipswich residents have been hearing about another bridge over the Bremer River for more than 50 years,” Mr Fechner said.

“It’s well beyond time to see actual progress, and with the support of the federal and state governments, we can see that happen.”

The David Trumpy Bridge in Ipswich Central. Picture: Google Earth

After the latest push for a second river crossing, Ipswich residents were generally critical, with one Facebook commenter posting, “This is something that has been promised time and time again. Just get on with it!”

“I remember hearing friends and family speaking of this when I was a kid, because the bridge at the time was going to go down the road from where we lived,” wrote another Facebook user.

Despite decades of delays, both the Ipswich City Council and local politicians appear united in the opinion that there is a definite need for a second bridge over the Bremer River.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said a multi-modal flood-immune second river crossing in Ipswich Central would future-proof the inner-city road network and reduce impacts to productivity caused by congestion and incidents.

“By freeing up traffic congestion, we can save the local economy $34 million per year in productivity costs, ”she said.

MP for Blair, Shayne Neumann agreed that the second river crossing could be an effective method to offset traffic congestion and bolster the region’s flood resilience.

“I’ve been in favour of a second crossing for many years,” he said.

Running against Mr Neumann in the upcoming election, LNP candidate Sam Biggins agreed that a second river crossing is a project that simply “has to happen.”

He said the recent floods emphasised how pressing the need was for locals to have an alternative route over the river in Ipswich Central.

“We can’t keep going at the rate we’re growing without investing in infrastructure,” he said.

Mr Biggins said he has already had conversations with his party about potential investments in the project.

“If we wait for Labour to do something, it’s never going to happen,” he said.

Mr Neumann raised concerns that the project may not be far enough along in its development yet for council to expect financial commitments from Australia’s political candidates.

“Council have not got this project near ready to be submitted for the Infrastructure Australia Priority List,” he said.

“I’ve had a lot of discussions with council about this project, and they admit they’re not ready to go ahead yet.”

The council stated this month that Infrastructure Australia are “currently assessing [the council’s] stage one submission on the second river crossing and will announce the outcome in mid-2022”.

Mr Neumann said he was happy to discuss potential financial commitments if Infrastructure Australia gives the project priority list status.

Danielle Mutton, the Greens candidate for Blair said she was aware of the issues with one river crossing.

“The only way to fix congestion long term is to get more cars off the road by prioritising public and active transport infrastructure.”

“If another bridge is built we‘d push to see dedicated bus lanes and safe separated walking and cycling lanes included.”