By Cameron Atfield
Brisbane City Council's Labor opposition has called on the Quirk administration to explore removing cars from the Victoria Bridge, just two months after the state Labor government knocked back its request to do just that.
Opposition leader Peter Cumming said the $15.96 million allocated towards the Brisbane Metro business case in Lord Mayor Graham Quirk's 2016-17 budget would be better spent on a study into removing general traffic from the bridge that linked the CBD to South Brisbane.
There are renewed calls for Brisbane's Victoria Bridge to become a "green" bridge.Credit: Harrison Saragossi
"Any proposal to convert the Victoria Bridge must come with careful consideration of the possibility of it causing greater traffic congestion in the city and the south side," he said.
"Instead of spending $16 million on a business plan for a project that cannot and will not go ahead, Quirk should spend some of that money on a comprehensive traffic study to determine if the bridge conversion is viable.
"Labor councillors would like to see a detailed traffic analysis that takes into account the impact on all modes of transport and we should use some of the $16 million put aside for the business case to do that now.
"If the technical analysis shows a strong case for converting Victoria Bridge into a green bridge, in principal, we would support that."
But the council had already proposed converting the Victoria Bridge into a green bridge, at a cost of $8 million, as part of its preparations for the Queens Wharf Brisbane construction.
There was $19 million set aside in the council budget for preparatory work, $9 million of which – including the Victoria Bridge conversion – was scuppered by the state government.
In a letter to the council dated July 8, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk knocked back that proposal, saying her government "cannot support the proposed closure of Victoria Bridge to general traffic".
In a statement, Cr Quirk said the closure of William Street and Queens Wharf Road would have a major impact on traffic in the city and opening up an additional two bus lanes on the Victoria Bridge could have been of some assistance.
"The closure of these city streets has the potential to cause traffic chaos throughout the CBD but council prepared a detailed transport plan to reduce that congestion which included closing Victoria Bridge to general traffic," he said.
"The closure of William Street will also require the diversion of an additional 80 bus vehicles per hour in peak periods over Victoria Bridge which is already experiencing significant capacity challenges with 230 buses per hour in peak times."
Public transport advocate Robert Dow, from Rail: Back on Track, said the state government should rethink its position on Victoria Bridge.
"We already have major bus congestion associated with the Cultural Centre bus station and Victoria Bridge," he said.
"This is only going to worsen considerably with road closures associated with Queens Wharf Brisbane project.
"This means in effect that even more buses will be added to the existing bus jam on Victoria Bridge.
"Network reform needs to proceed but we also need to bite the bullet and free up Victoria Bridge for buses, bicycles and pedestrians only."
Comment was sought from Ms Palaszczuk.