More road closures planned as new stage of Queen’s Wharf gets underway

More road closures are planned for late July as a new stage of the $3.6 billion Queen’s Wharf development gets underway in Brisbane’s CBD.

Between July 17-21 and 24-28, the Riverside Expressway will be closed from 8pm to 5am, between Turbot and Alice streets, to facilitate works on the site.

“Multiplex will close southbound lanes only of the Riverside Expressway, overnight, for a small number of nights to undertake work in close proximity to the expressway. As has been successfully done many times previously, a diversion will be in place and communicated well in advance of the closures,” A spokesman for Destination Brisbane Consortium said.

This week, the stretch of Bicentennial Bikeway skirting the Queen’s Wharf precinct was diverted to allow builders to upgrade the area under the Riverside Expressway and connect the over-river landing areas to the foreshore.

DBC project director Simon Crooks said bikeway users would be the first to use the new concrete landing areas.

“The bikeway diversion, which will take bikeway users out along the edge of the landing, is quite straightforward compared to the diversion we implemented in 2018 behind QUT when the Consortium built the Mangrove Walk and upgraded the first 500 metres of Bicentennial Bikeway.

“Plenty of signage is in place to ensure the safety of all bikeway users and make sure there are no surprises for those that travel along this popular riverside route.”

The space adjacent to the Bicentennial Bikeway and North Quay City Cat terminal will also become home to Velo Cafe, a two-storey venue that will include a cafe, bar, bike facilities and a workshop.

Mr Crooks said said the development would be a first for Brisbane leisure cyclists.

“The café’s two-level structure will connect to Queens Wharf Road via a lift and stairs creating further connections between the riverfront and the CBD.”

Floods cause havoc with bridge construction

The Brisbane River inundated lower parts of the new Queen’s Wharf retail and casino precinct in February and five temporary piles used in the building of the Neville Bonner Bridge were knocked over.

The walkway will connect Queen’s Wharf to South Bank.

A spokesman for DBC, which manages both projects, said Queen’s Wharf Brisbane and the bridge would be ready for a staged opening from mid-2023.

The $3.6 billion development was originally scheduled to open in 2022.

“Three temporary piles have been safely recovered with the remaining two piles in the process of being recovered.

“Ground works on the Neville Bonner Bridge at South Bank continue with bridge structure steel sections to be installed sequentially over the next six months.”

Tunnel projects to affect bus station

Most other projects face minor delays after Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced a pause on several major city projects.

Brisbane City Council infrastructure committee chairman Andrew Wines said river barges used in the construction of the city’s new bridges, like the Kangaroo Point to CBD green bridge, had to be redeployed to help in the flood recovery, including the removal of the dilapidated Drift restaurant at Milton.

That took them away from bridge construction works but the Kangaroo Point and Breakfast Creek green bridges were still on track.

Construction on the Brisbane Metro and Cross River Rail was also expected to create some changes to inner city bus stops.

A BCC spokeswoman said the council was still working with Translink on when Adelaide Street’s stop 43 would be moved.

And, she said, the Cultural Centre bus station would eventually be moved to the southern side of the Melbourne and Grey Street intersections as part of construction of the Cross River Rail and upgrades to the Cultural Centre.

The spokeswoman said the public would be notified of the changes before they occurred.

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