Fiddling while our bridge is failing...
A storied city landmark is under threat. Was there a lack of foresight, a feeling that it was “all too hard” or are we dealing with sheer incompetence?
The Story Bridge is the Brisbane landmark. So much so that it was the obvious choice when it came to selecting a header for the email version of this newsletter.
So, it’s come as a shock to me, and many others, to hear this week’s news about the bridge. Without expensive repairs, the 85-year-old structure is unlikely to see its 100th anniversary.
I suppose I’d naively believed that the city council was doing the right thing by the bridge, but it seems that was not the case.
Brisbane’s beloved icon, the long-standing main artery to the city’s heart, is reportedly crumbling due to “concrete cancer”.
And what’s Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s big idea to rectify this? A toll. Of course. When all else fails, make the public pay for the city administration’s lack of basic foresight.
It’s insulting. He says he “may have to” put a toll on the bridge to fund repairs. First, he may — nay, must — explain to the people of Brisbane how this level of infrastructure decay went unnoticed — or worse, was ignored — on his watch?
Whatever has happened here is the result of years of moisture, stress and, we can only assume, neglect and mismanagement.
One possible scenario is that Cr Schrinner, his predecessors and the relevant council committee members have kept their collective heads in the sand over the issue. Maybe the thinking was that if they kicked it along the road long enough, it would become somebody else’s problem.
And that’s a charitable conclusion. Others come to mind.
Whatever happened (or failed to happen) in the past, the game of musical chairs is over. The music stopped long ago and the current administration has been in the seat of power long enough to own this failure. The Liberals/LNP have controlled the council for 17 years; we’ve had LNP mayors for 21 years; and Cr Schrinner has been in the top job for six of those years.
Maintaining the Story Bridge should have been a major annual budget item. Yet, we are now in a position where pedestrians have been turned away indefinitely and we’re talking about the entire structure being unusable in the foreseeable future without a huge injection of cash.
Although Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is not keen, it’s likely that he and Premier David Crisafulli will eventually chip in to make sure the bridge reaches its centenary and beyond.
With the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics just around the corner, it would be a very bad look for the structure that has defined Brisbane for almost all our lifetimes — one designed by the man behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge — to be dismantled or allowed to rot in view of the entire world.
But, make no mistake, whichever level of government ultimately stumps up the cash, it will be the people who pay, through rates and taxes, if not by a toll. And the bill will be much higher than it would have been if a proper schedule of maintenance had been in place.
When a landmark such as the Story Bridge starts to fall apart, it’s not the infrastructure that has failed us, it’s the people who were elected to look after it.
Current and past mayors, and elected councillors, are responsible. Passing the buck eventually kicks back like a mule. No excuse accepted. Imagine the traffic congestion that will occur if it closed!
I couldn't agree more Brett. I love your opening image! I had the same thought. We now need the feds (us taxpayers) to cough up money to fix not just an iconic bridge, but important piece of infrastructure, and yet, we seem to have money and plenty of motivation to build more infrastructure for 2 weeks of "Olympics". Is stupidity growing the like mould in our great city or is it my imagination?