Riveting story of hope

She has many claims to fame.  She is the longest of her type in Australia, yet also the shortest, the death of some and the life of many.  In the beginning, she was shunned, but now proudly stands as Brisbane’s most recognisable emblem.

Soon to turn 75 years old with a party that will literally stop traffic, the Story Bridge has a great story to tell.

Engineering marvel to enduring landmark

As Brisbane marks the opening of Legacy Way, another piece of game-changing infrastructure (one that will vastly improve life for western suburbs commuters), we are about to celebrate the 75th anniversary of arguably our most revered transport structure.

Building the Story Bridge, though, was never about easing traffic congestion.  The ambitious infrastructure project was the ‘economic stimulus package’ of its time, an ‘icon of hope’ intended to generate employment and lift the spirits of Brisbane during the dour depression years of the 1930s.

Newspapers at the time were filled with stories of the romance and history of bridges, and the glamour and industrial progress they represented.  Commissioned in 1934 and built from 1935 to 1940, the bridge linking Kangaroo Point and Fortitude Valley would showcase Australian ingenuity, resources and enterprise.

The Queensland Government appointed John Bradfield, designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, as consulting engineer, and set a budget of £1.6 million.  Tenders were called in January 1935, and the contract was let to Evans Deakin–Hornibrook Constructions Pty Ltd who quoted £1,154,000.

Still today, our heritage-listed bridge remains the largest steel bridge designed, fabricated and built by Australians from Australian materials.  Sydney’s famous ‘coathanger’ may be bigger, but it used an English contractor and some materials were imported.

All Brisbane’s steelwork was fabricated at the Rocklea workshop of Evans, Deakin & Co. Ltd.  The concrete work and building of the superstructure was carried out on site by MR Hornibrook, with work sometimes continuing 24 hours a day.

Excavations for the main southern pier saw men working in watertight airlock chambers up to 40 metres underground.  At the time, it was the deepest airlock work ever done in Australia.  A decompression period of almost two hours was needed at the end of each shift to avoid workers suffering the bends.  An on-site airlock hospital chamber is said to have successfully treated the 65 cases of the bends that did occur.

At the height of the Story Bridge project, it involved 23 engineering and office staff, 176 men on site and 198 working at Evans Deakin’s steel fabrication plant at Rocklea.  Only three strikes occurred during the five years of construction but, tragically, the project claimed four lives.

Brisbane marvelled as the bridge was built simultaneously from the north and south approaches.  It linked perfectly when the two sides eventually met on the 28 October, 1939.  This was due to the precision of the Rocklea steel fabrication operation, accurate to within a fraction of a millimetre.

Our pride and joy is still Australia’s longest steel cantilever bridge, 1072 metres long with a river span of 282 metres.  It is 24 metres wide, 74 metres above the ground at its highest point (22 storeys) and clears the river by 35 metres at low tide.  It contains more than 41,000 cubic metres of concrete, 12,000 tonnes of structural steel, 1650 tonnes of reinforcement steel, and 1.5 million rivets.

During construction, the bridge was called the Jubilee Bridge in honour of King George V.  But when opened on 6 July, 1940, it was named after John Douglas Story, then Public Service Commissioner and a member of the commissioning Bridge Board.

Its designer was honoured in the naming of the road that crosses the bridge – the Bradfield Highway – claimed to be the shortest highway in Australia.  It measures 1.4km if you include the southern approach.

The cost of the bridge was recouped by way of a toll (sixpence per car) collected until 1947.  Initially, the toll proved unpopular with the motoring public who preferred to go out of their way to use other bridges.  The State Government sold the Story Bridge to the Brisbane City Council in June 1947 for £750,000.

More than 37,000 people gathered when Queensland Governor Sir Leslie Wilson officially opened the Story Bridge 75 years ago on July 6.  Hundreds of thousands turned out in 1990 when traffic was stopped so pedestrians could celebrate her 50th anniversary.  Many more have clamoured to attend next Sunday (July 5) when the (sold out) Eat Street Markets and live music hit the bridge deck for the 75-year party.

Although our Story Bridge was modelled heavily on Montreal’s Jacques Cartier Bridge, it has become the unique emblem of Brisbane – our Opera House, our Eiffel Tower, our Statue of Liberty.  It is the sweeping backdrop to the River City, the glittering centrepiece of Riverfire, and the signature landmark that defines us.

Happy diamond anniversary Story Bridge!

Riveting facts:

Vehicles per year             30 million+

Paint job                         Every 7 years

Paint to recoat                 17,500 litres

Bridge climb                    Operating since 2005

Steps to climb                 1,138

Marriage proposals           30 (all accepted, apparently!)

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Riveting story of hope