What Victoria Park construction means for inner-city bike path detours

A popular inner-city shared path used by walkers, cyclists and e-scooter riders will be diverted – and blocked off at times – as work on a stadium for the Brisbane 2032 Games ramps up.

Victoria Park will be closed to the public in less than 10 weeks, with Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie confirming at a business lunch last week the park would be fenced off until the Olympic and Paralympic Games next decade.

A section of the bikeway that ran through Victoria Park and connected with the North Brisbane Bikeway would remain open with a slight detour during construction of the new Brisbane stadium and National Aquatic Centre, according to Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority chief executive Simon Crooks.

“As the works progress there will be a variety of safe diversions implemented,” he said.

“Due to the construction schedule, there may also be periods of closure.”

Crooks said all other walking and bike paths within the park would be closed but GIICA was “exploring options” to leave some parts of the park open to the public.

The bike pump track on Herston Road will remain open.

It is not known which path this diversion will take and the duration of future closures.

Brisbane South Bicycle User Group co-convenor Mary Doolan said she hoped changes for active travel were planned and communicated well in advance.

“We would expect that bikeway detours and closures would be subject to very early notice with safe passage provided, and not last-minute changes that leave bike riders mixing with motor vehicles or pushed onto footpaths, particularly as this is a long-term construction project,” she said.

“Anything less is negligent.”

On Wednesday, Bleijie said the entire Victoria Park would be fenced on June 1, while workers would be on site almost immediately.

“You’re going to see bulldozers, you’re going to see excavators,” he said.

“And unfortunately, it will not be able to be used between June 1 and 2032 – we’ve got to build a 63,000-seat stadium.”

The Normanby Bikeway and North Brisbane Bikeway connect the CBD to Chermside, with the state government delivering stages one to four, while the council is yet to deliver stage five in Wooloowin.

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