Plans to upgrade Centenary Bridge are still a bit far from reality, after it has been announced that the three-year project is not expected to commence until 2023, instead of starting in 2022.
Read: Congested Section Of Centenary Motorway To Receive Much-needed Upgrades
Based on the original projected timeline, the project is supposed to commence in 2022 and will be complete by late 2026, weather and construction conditions permitting.
However, Transport Minister Mark Bailey announced that there is an alternate bid being submitted for the project and that thorough due diligence is needed before construction could finally get underway.
The budget for the project has remained at $244 million ($132 million from the Queensland Government and $112 million from the Australian Government), however, planners are still closely monitoring global inflation of construction materials.
Whilst it’s an ‘unfortunate’ situation, Mr Bailey assured it’s not going to be a huge delay which means the upgrades will be built as soon as possible.
Benefits of upgrading the bridge includes improving safety to reduce the frequency and severity of crashes on the Centenary Bridge and increasing capacity to improve travel-time reliability and cater for current and future traffic needs.
Works for Centenary Motorway’s upgrades include remediation of the existing bridges to create three southbound lanes and a new three-lane bridge travelling northbound.
Active transport facilities will also be upgraded for pedestrians and people who ride bikes, with improved connections to the Western Freeway Bikeway and local destinations, including retention of the Jindalee Skate Park.
“While the Centenary Bridge upgrade does not include dedicated transit lanes, capacity and traffic flow will be improved by providing 3 lanes in each direction over the Brisbane River. This will increase efficiency and travel time reliability for public transport including buses travelling on the Centenary Bridge,” TMR said.
At present, around 85,000 vehicles cross the Centenary Motorway a day. But Transport and Main Roads’ current traffic modelling shows that by 2036, around 152,000 vehicles per day will want to cross the bridge.
Visit Queensland Government’s website for further updates on the project.
