The Queensland Government has set aside $230,000 to develop a business case for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge crossing the Brisbane River, a day after works began on building a footbridge nearby.
The Courier Mail reported on 7 August that the state development minister Cameron Dick said that the government would commit the funds to the development of a business case study for a bridge connecting Kangaroo Point and the central city.
The Kangaroo Point crossing has been a long-mooted proposal that appeared in the 2014 Brisbane City Masterplan. A concept was designed by Richard Kirk Architects that year that comprised a double-curved suspension bridge.
The announcement came a day after test drilling began on a footbridge designed by Grimshaw Architects that is being built as part of the Queen’s Wharf development, which will see a historically significant 27.5-hectare stretch of state-owned land opposite the South Bank precinct redeveloped as an “integrated” casino resort.
The accepted design for the Neville Bonner Bridge by Grimshaw Architects.
Image: Grimshaw Architects/WSP
The Neville Bonner Bridge, named for Australia’s first Indigenous parliamentarian, will connect South Bank to the casino development.
The bridge and the casino development have been assessed under state planning processes, rather than under the purview of the local council.
Brisbane deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner said on Twitter that the bridge should be scrapped, with a “green” Kangaroo Point bridge “a much better outcome for Brisbane.”
