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Shade will be finally installed on Victoria Bridge, but a full expansion of the Metro seems unlikely to be finished in time for the 2032 Olympic Games, according to a leaked draft of the council’s transport legacy plan.
And it even seems to suggest a dumped plan to build a walking and cycling bridge between St Lucia and West End could be resurrected.
The yet-to-be-released document, The Race to Gold: Brisbane’s Games Transport Legacy, is an update to the council plan released in 2024, and comes after the LNP state government changed Olympic venues last year.
This included a new 63,000-seat stadium at Victoria Park, the National Aquatic Centre at Centenary Pool, and the athletes’ village being moved from Northshore Hamilton to the Brisbane Showgrounds.
The draft council document reveals shade on Victoria Bridge – which links South Bank with the city – is expected to be delivered by late 2029, with a design finalised and funding approved by late 2027, and a contract awarded in mid-2028.
Shade was to be installed on the bridge as a Queensland government condition for green-lighting the Metro project, but this was shelved three years ago to cut costs.
However, Brisbane City Council recently withdrew an approved funding application for a Victoria Park revamp – since the park will be home to a new Olympic stadium – and applied to use the SEQ Liveability Fund cash for Victoria Bridge shade instead.
The document also marks two proposed active transport river crossings on a map – at Toowong-West End and St Lucia-West End – although there is no further detail.
Details on proposed new bridges are even more scant than on the document’s 2024 version, which had listed the Toowong-West End bridge for approvals, funding and delivery from 2025 to 2030.
In late 2024, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the council had abandoned plans for the St Lucia-West End walking and cycling bridge, and would only pursue the Toowong bridge.
The unreleased document also appeared to confirm the full Metro expansion – previously announced as featuring 22 new stations and stops, south to Springwood, east to Capalaba, and north to Carseldine and the airport – would not be ready in time for the Games.
In 2024, the business case was due for completion in mid-2026 and the Metro expansion was to be operational by 2031.
However, the new unreleased report said the council would partner with the state government to “uplift bus priority” in the northern and eastern corridors, in line with the Queensland government’s 2032 Delivery Plan.
That delivery plan said buses would be given priority on Old Cleveland Road (Coorparoo to Capalaba) and Gympie Road (Kedron to Carseldine) to reduce journey times and increase reliability.
The business case was now due to be finished in 2027, while “prioritisation of corridors for the Games” was slated for early 2028, and “delivery and operations” from 2028-2031.
However, the “staged rollout of future corridors” was expected from late 2032 and beyond, according to the new Race to Gold edition.
In January, Labor Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy said council documents showed the Metro expansion business case was delayed, arguing that meant the project would not be completed before 2032.
The council has also started planning to inform a Bowen Bridge Road corridor transport mobility business case.
The corridor moves more than 56,000 vehicles daily, including feeder buses for the Metro, and it is the primary gateway to Victoria Park, the athletes’ village, the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and the inner-city via the Airport Link tunnel.
The document shows the council plans to have the business case completed by late 2027, approvals, funding and design by 2028-29, and delivery of a project for the corridor in 2030-31.
With ferry patronage surging since the introduction of 50¢ fares, including by about 50 per cent on Saturdays, the council will review services, fleet and facilities, while a new high-capacity CBD terminal will be built in late 2030-31.
The plan said the council would need to ensure large crowds could walk comfortably and conveniently in the inner-city, while a safer and better-connected cycling network would link event venues, transport hubs and other destinations.
It aimed to provide average athlete travel times from village to venues of under 20 minutes, while 90 per cent of spectators should access Olympic venues by public and active transport, the document said.
During the Sydney 2000 and London 2012 Games, public transport patronage increased by almost 1 million trips per day.
The council was contacted for comment.
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