Story Bridge

So, I'm standing here looking at the Story Bridge, and it's pretty impressive. It's this huge steel cantilever bridge, the longest one in Australia actually, and it connects the northern and southern parts of Brisbane. You can drive, bike, or walk across it, though right now, some of the pedestrian and bike paths are closed. They found some rust and concrete cancer, so they're working on fixing it. Apparently, the whole bridge might need a full restoration by 2045 to keep it from closing down entirely, and there's even talk of tolls to pay for it, or even replacing it!

This bridge has quite a history. People in Kangaroo Point have wanted a bridge here for a really long time, even back in 1865 when the first Victoria Bridge was being built. They even had a meeting in 1888 to demand it! This particular bridge was part of a bigger plan from the 1920s by Professor Roger Hawken to ease traffic, and it was built during the Great Depression as a public works project.

John Bradfield, who also worked on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, was the consulting engineer. He recommended this steel cantilever design, which was actually based on the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal. Construction started in 1935, and they even had a special factory just to make the parts. It has 1.25 million rivets! They had to use a special pneumatic caisson technique for the southern foundations because they were so deep, and workers even had to decompress for almost two hours after their shifts to avoid the bends. Sadly, three men died during its construction.

It officially opened in 1940 and was tolled for a few years. It's named after John Douglas Story, a public servant who really pushed for it, though before it was finished, it was called the Jubilee Bridge in honor of King George V. It's a busy bridge, carrying about 97,000 vehicles every day.