Did you ever get one of those Christmas gifts you never really wanted, and turned out to be a lemon too? Well Adrian Schrinner has just given us one.
The Lord Mayor’s decision to shut down the iconic Story Bridge over three weeks this festive season is a direct consequence of a decade of poor maintenance, and now commuters will pay the price. Routine upkeep on an 85-year-old piece of critical infrastructure should be bread-and-butter business for council. Instead they kicked the can down the road until the bridge needed weeks long, urgent, disruptive intervention.
It’s to be noted that the Sydney Harbour Bridge has never had this type of unprecedented closure. But, here in Brisbane, the reality is that a failure to plan is a plan to fail.
I agree with the Lord Mayor and his team when they say this is unprecedented. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. Almost 10 years ago these very same works would not have required a full bridge closure for this long. Something has gone wrong here.
Even during this quiet period, there’s still 60-thousand vehicles every day looking for a way to cross the Brisbane River. 60-thousand cars, utes, delivery vans and trucks do not simply vanish because the Lord Mayor wants them to. Where are these vehicles meant to go?
They’ll spill into the gridlocked streets of Kangaroo Point, Fortitude Valley and the CBD. They’ll bank up across the Captain Crook Bridge and William Jolly Bridge or be forced into the Clem7 and over the gateway, where they’ll pay a toll.
This is peak season for freight and logistics. From supermarket supplies to Christmas deliveries, freight operators rely on the Story Bridge. Forcing these drivers off a free public road and onto toll roads at the most expensive time of the year is insulting. Locals don’t want to see extra costs added to their Christmas deliveries because their drivers have been forced onto toll roads, and drivers don’t want to be caught in congestion because of lack of planning.
We’ve seen no clear plan to manage the fall out. There has been silence from the Lord Mayor on this announcement. If there were serious about managing this disruptive closure, it would have come with a comprehensive plan.
First, we need a boost to public transport services on inner city routes. High frequency services across the river on alternatives to the Story Bridge would relieve the bottleneck. Council should also be coordinating with Queensland Rail about train capacity and running additional CityCat services. Under this administration, there’s been no evidence of coordinated transport planning.
It’s grossly unfair to shut a free public road at Christmas, caused by Council’s maintenance failures, and expect ratepayers to foot the bill by paying private toll operators. Council claim thousands of vehicles on the bridge come from outside the Brisbane LGA, yet we haven’t seen any indication that Adrian Schrinner and David Crisafulli have worked together to bring Transurban to the table and hash out a deal, given the region wide implications. Transurban is set to rake in millions of dollars from this closure. Adrian Schrinner needs to pick up the phone and call his mates at 1 William Street, asking for toll relief. It’s been done before, so why not at the most expensive time of year for people?
Our city deserves leadership that has the courage to advocate for the best outcome for its residents.
Jared Cassidy is leader of the Brisbane Labor Opposition in Brisbane City Council.
