

In 1988, the bridge received a Historic Engineering Marker from Engineers Australia. The bridge was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992. Overall the plan cost about $8.4 million and was completed in December 2015.
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On 6 February 2013, Quirk announced plans to install a three-metre-high safety barrier.
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Following two high-profile murder-suicides from the bridge in 20, Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk announced plans to install free telephones linked to suicide prevention hotlines. Similar to many large bridges such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Brisbane's Story Bridge has become notorious as a suicide hotspot. Ī picture of the bridge featured on Brisbane Bitter. īridge climbs began in 2005 and have become a popular tourist attraction. The celebration attracted almost 75,000 visitors to the bridge who enjoyed food, drink and entertainment as they walked across lanes usually reserved for vehicles. The bridge was again closed to road traffic on 5 July 2015 to celebrate the 75th anniversary. In 1990 road traffic was halted so pedestrians could celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bridge's construction. The Story Bridge features prominently in the annual Riverfire display and is illuminated at night. Ĭlosure for maintenance occurred again from 9 p.m. Monday, 6 January 2014, for essential maintenance work of resurfacing all six lanes. The Story Bridge was closed to traffic from midnight of Friday 3 January 2014 until 5.30 a.m. Resurfacing works were undertaken in 1994. It was opened on 6 July 1940 by Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, Governor of Queensland and named after John Douglas Story, a senior and influential public servant who had advocated strongly the bridge’s construction. Until it was completed, the bridge was known as the Jubilee Bridge in honour of King George V. On 6 December 1939, Arthur McKay (Max) Wharton was hit by a piece of equipment on a nerve that made him faint, falling from the bridge to the water 18 months earlier Wharton had been hailed as a hero for saving another worker from falling from the bridge. Although pulled from the water alive, he died 4 hours later in hospital without regaining consciousness. On 7 February 1939, Alfred William Jackson fell from the bridge into the river. On 22 November 1937, Hans James Zimmerman slipped and fell 75 feet (23 m) to the ground. Three men died during the construction of the bridge. The bridge approaches were also prepared. The bridge was painted and sodium lighting was installed. A concrete decking was then laid, covered by a Trinidad pitch topping. On 28 October 1939 the gap between the two sides was closed. An on-site air lock hospital successfully treated the 65 cases of the bends that occurred. As men were working under pressures of up to 4 times normal air pressure, a decompression period of almost 2 hours was needed at the end of each shift to avoid the bends. So a pneumatic caisson technique had to be used. It was not possible to excavate to that level as water from the level would rapidly seep in. The primary challenge in constructing the bridge was the southern foundations that went 40 metres (130 ft) below ground level. There was no need for an anchor pier on the northern bank as the bridge was anchored into schist cliff face. The bridge has only one pier on the northern bank but two piers on the lower southern bank, one to bear the weight (the main pier) and, further to the south, one to prevent the bridge from twisting (the anchor pier). During its construction, work sometimes continued 24 hours per day. There are 1.25 million rivets (metal pins or bolts) in the Story Bridge.

Components for the bridge were fabricated in a purpose-built factory at Rocklea.


Governor of Queensland Sir Leslie Orme Wilson and consulting engineer Bradfield inspecting the bridge, 7 July 1938Ĭonstruction on the bridge began on, with the first sod being turned by the then Premier of Queensland, William Forgan Smith.
