Victoria Bridge, Brisbane

File:VictoriaBridge.jpg

Victoria Bridge, Brisbane

The Victoria Bridge is the fifth crossing of the Brisbane River.

The current bridge, opened in 1969, is the third permanent crossing erected at this location.

It is shared by vehicular traffic, pedestrians and cyclists. It connects the South Bank Parklands and Queensland Cultural Centre to the Brisbane central business district (CBD).

Half of the road space on the bridge is now given over to the South-East Busway. In the Brisbane City Centre Draft Masterplan, a new crossing immediately adjacent to the Victoria Bridge, tentatively named the Adelaide Street Bridge (the name of the connecting street in the CBD), will carry pedestrian, cyclist, bus and possibly light-rail traffic, freeing up the Victoria Bridge for general road traffic as it was before.

Former bridges at this site

Horse tram at the northern end of the first permanent Victoria Bridge, c. 1890

Early electric tram at the northern end of the second permanent Victoria Bridge, c. 1906

The original bridge at this point on the river was a timber structure, which quickly succumbed to marine wood worm and collapsed. Its successor, a metal structure, was washed away in the floods of 1893. Its replacement entered service in 1897 and lasted until 1969.

A portion of the southern abutment of the previous bridge remains adjacent to the new bridge, carrying a pedestrian arch, a short remnant of tram track and a memorial to Hector Vasyli, a young boy who was killed in a traffic accident at that point when waving to servicemen returning from the First World War.

External links

• Brisbane City Centre Draft Masterplan
• Victoria Bridge at Structurae