Story Bridge
Story Bridge | |
|---|---|
| File:StoryBridge.jpg | |
| Coordinates | 27°27′50″S 153°02′09″E / 27.4638°S 153.0357°E |
| Carries | Motor vehicles and pedestrians |
| Crosses | Brisbane River |
| Locale | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Official name | Story Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Steel cantilever |
| Total length | 777 metres (2,549 ft) |
| Longest span | 282 metres (925 ft) |
| Clearance below | 30.4 metres (99.7 ft) at mid-span |
| History | |
| Opened | 6 July 1940 |
| Location | |
 | |
The Story Bridge is a cantilever bridge and the second crossing of the Brisbane River. It connects Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point. Before the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 the Government of Queensland asked John Bradfield to design a new Brisbane bridge.
General Description
A bridge downstream of the Victoria Bridge was part of a larger plan, devised by Professor Roger Hawken of the University of Queensland in the 1920s, for a series of bridges over the Brisbane River to alleviate congestion on Victoria Bridge and to divert traffic away from the Brisbane central business district. The William Jolly Bridge was the first of the Hawken Plan bridges to be constructed. Lack of funds precluded the construction of the downstream bridge at that time. Initially plans called for a transporter bridge further downstream near New Farm.
Subsequently the bridge was constructed as a public works program during the Great Depression. Construction began on the bridge on 24 May 1935, with the first sod being turned by the then Premier of Queensland, William Forgan Smith. It was opened on 6 July 1940 by Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, Governor of Queensland and named for John Douglas Story, a senior and influential public servant.
The design for the bridge was based heavily on that of the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal.[citation needed]
It carries three lanes of traffic in either direction as well as a shared pedestrian and cycle way flanking each side. The road on the bridge is called the Bradfield Highway, and is the shortest highway in Australia. It is not to be confused with the Bradfield Highway that spans the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Initially a toll was charged to use the bridge, with toll booths constructed at the southern end of the Bradfield Highway. Between 1952 and 1969 trolley-buses operated by the Brisbane City Council used the bridge.
The Story Bridge is the home of the Riverfestival and is illuminated at night. Bridge climbs are becoming a major tourist attraction.
Additional photos of the Story Bridge
-
Story Bridge by night
-
Story Bridge - photo taken early in the afternoon -
Story Bridge - photo taken late in the afternoon -
Brisbane CBD and Story Bridge -
Story Bridge - satellite photo taken in Google Earth
