Plans for new western suburbs bridge edging closer

The first vehicular bridge in inner Brisbane in a decade has edged a little bit closer after comments from the Lord Mayor.

A duplicate Walter Taylor Bridge, in Brisbane’s inner west, has inched nearer after Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner today confirmed Council would proceed with a feasibility study.

Infrastructure Chair David McLachlan revealed last October that Council was “gearing up’’ the planning process for a potential new river crossing adjacent to the Walter Taylor Bridge in Indooroopilly.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey, whose electorate covers the southern approaches to the existing bridge, wrote to Cr Schrinner on Friday to ask him about progress on the planning study.

Cr Schrinner told reporters on Tuesday that it would go ahead, although Council has not committed to actually building a new link.

It would be the first car bridge in inner Brisbane since the Go Between Bridge opened in 2010.

Collecting tolls on the Indooroopilly Traffic Bridge, as it was then called, in 1936.

The closure of the Victoria St bridge to cars in January has increased pressure on the nearby William Jolly Bridge, while traffic on the existing Walter Taylor link grows worse each year with cars often banked up for a kilometre or more on Honour Ave and Oxley Rd in Graceville.

“How we design this new bridge (should it be built) is critical,’’ Mr Bailey said.

He said there had been no bridge built between the inner city and the western suburbs in years.

Mr Bailey urged the council to conduct thorough community consultation before any work or advanced planning started.

He has locked horns with Council for years on the issue, with BCC calling for the State Government to fund the project and Mr Bailey insisting Council foot the bill.

The Walter Taylor Bridge at night. Photo: Daniel Raciti

Traffic due to in-fill development in the Oxley/Graceville/Sherwood area, and greenfield housing estates in the city’s southwest, have gradually choked the two lane, heritage-listed bridge.

It has been largely unchanged since it opened in 1936 as a Depression-era stimulus project.

Last year, Cr McLachlan cautioned that it would be a complicated process to build a duplicate link.

“Council will examine the needs of road users and the impact of potential traffic flow changes on the local community before making a decision about the delivery of any future bridges,’’ he said last October.

“This is very early stages and we are only investigating the possibility of duplicating the Walter Taylor Bridge at the moment.

“No decision about the timing of the construction of a new bridge has been made.

“Traffic modelling, feasibility considerations and community consultation will play an integral role on the viability of such a project.

“Council successfully worked with the Federal Government to secure the former Witton Barracks site in Indooroopilly for park and community use as well as preserving a corridor for a possible future landing point for a new bridge.

“This could be delivered sooner if the State Government committed to partner with Council on an agreed project which has strong community support.’’

Council has come under intense criticism about some of its five proposed green (pedestrian) bridges, the first major announcement Cr Schrinner made after he became Lord Mayor.

A link at Bellbowrie was scrapped due to opposition from residents, and locals in St Lucia and West End have vigorously opposed plans for a green bridge linking those suburbs.

Other bridges linking Toowong and West End, Kangaroo Point and the CBD, and a link at Breakfast Creek, appear to be well on track.

Mr Bailey has previously called on Council to scrap some of those green bridges to fund a duplicate Walter Taylor Bridge, downstream from the adjacent Jack Pesch cycle bridge and rail bridge.