The BCC budget for the next financial year is out now, thread for discussion as it relates to transport
ABC has posted an article which claims BCC thinks repairing the Story Bridge will cost $1.35 billion, as opposed to the estimated $350 million, curious whatâs happened there.
In terms of transport, from a quick skim Iâve indentified:
- Footpath upgrades for Bradley Ave, Cavendish Rd, and Oxley Rd
- Road resurfacing program
- Expanding clearways on Vulture St
- Apollo Rd ferry terminal upgrade, and heritage restoration for Bulimba and Hawthorne
- Rollout of Smarter Suburban Corridors, which is their AI traffic light/road upgrade program
- Suburban intersection upgrades
- Melbourne St, Prebble St, Sylvan Rd and Shafston Ave bikeway
- Some Metro case studies
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I donât know where you got $350 million from - that was barely going to make a dent in the amount of work the Story Bridge requires. Perhaps it was the immediate priority works, or the estimate before the full extent of works was ascertained?
This is easily going to be a project costing in the billions of dollars and will take years to complete. $1.35b is just the works projected for the next 6 years. The full restoration project is slated to be $3.6 billion over 20 years.
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Council budget
Today, the council released an update on its Story Bridge business case, which calculates the bridge needs $1.35 billion in repairs ahead of the 2032 Olympics.
It says the full cost of a renewal would be $3.6 billion over 20 years.
Previous independent reports commissioned by the council estimated the cost would be $350 million, based on similar bridges in other countries.
As per the ABC article. I do agree that it sounds optimistic, but thatâs what theyâre reporting
The Story Bridge saga in a nutshell:
BCC - âWe need the QLD Government and Australian Government to help fund this once-in-a-century renewal.â
QLD & AU Governmentsâ - Not our problem; you own the bridge; you fix it yourself!
BCC - 
BCC - Australian Government budget announced May 2027; QLD Government budget announced June 2027.
QLD & AU Governmentsâ - so what if you know our budget schedule for 2027. Not our problem; you own the bridge; you fix it yourself!
BCC -
BCC - If I class it as an âOlympic Infrastructure buildâ will you fund it?
QLD & AU Governmentsâ - 
BCC - Lets hold a fundraiser or âGoFundMeâ for the bridge with the aim of raising $3 billion.
Brisbane residents - 
BCC - We thought about tolling the Story Bridge, because the BCC doesnât make enough money.
Brisbane residents - 
BCC - Its OK. the bridge is not urgent, but we have 14 years left to do something?
BCC - âA new bridge is not an optionâ. Building a new bridge on the same constrained inner-city alignment could cost $8.5 billion.
Brisbane residents - 
BCC - Thatâs OK, weâve doing an âearly business caseâ over a âstaged-renewalâ program. It will only cost $3.6 billion over 20 years.
Brisbane residents -
Brisbane residents - So we have only 14 years left, what have you done in the last 6 years prior?
BCC - mostly ignored it and mocked experts that claimed that the bridge needed to close for the works, we re-opened one footpath, and said no to a cycling lane because it would accelerate the deterioration of the bridge.
Brisbane residents - 
Brisbane residents - Your telling us that fixing the Story Bridge costs as much as the new stadium at Victoria Park, which you gave the land away for free?
BCC - 
BCC - We havenât âfinishedâ our âStory Bridge Renewal Business Caseâ yet!
Brisbane residents - What happened to the $350 million estimate that was completed in 2025?
BCC - We havenât finished âourâ âStory Bridge Renewal Business Caseâ yet!
Brisbane residents - How long will the bridge need to be closed for it repairs?
BCC - We havenât finished âourâ âStory Bridge Renewal Business Caseâ yet!
Iâm a bit annoyed by this budget. Nobody wants higher rates of course but the council needs to begin preparing for the story bridge overhaul and there will be a wide range of Olympic preparation costs to get ahead of.
It sounds nice to run a lean budget but the council is putting off important future planning. I think thatâs pretty irresponsible.
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Can BTQ adocate for Story bridge to be converted to green bridge and restrict motor vehicles to buses and emergenct vehicles???
The council can build a new bridge easily cauz we got bridges fetish here lol
It would be a COLD DAY IN HELL before that would ever be considered.
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It would be helpful what the cost breakdown is for âGold CityGliderâ is, and what they are doing with the money.
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The state will own the stadium at Victoria Park. In what way is it âgiving the land away for freeâ?
I read the BCC pamphlet here: Story Bridge Renewal Progress Update June 2026
They have a section where they are pushing for federal and state funding they talk about the other projects that have gotten it, but theyâre all national highway, which is completely different.
It wasnât State land to begin with.
Victoria Park had always been BCC land.
The deeds were given away for free, from one Team Blue government (BCC) to another Team Blue government (QLD Gov).
Did they ask for and receive any financial compensation in exchange for the deeds to the park?
They could of received funding for the Story Bridge from this deal, but they did not.
If it was Team Red wanting Victoria Park the BCC would have resorted to petty extortion and would have held out until they got something unreasonable in return.
So you guys in favour of removing the heritage listed bridge and build a new? Lol
Just fix the damn bridge!
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BCC was the trustee to land held by the Crown so Iâm not sure that they would have a right to compensation from the State as part of the freeholding process (except perhaps a peppercorn sum).
Iâd be surprised if BCC could have leveraged much at all from the State if Red team was around. Iâm sure they could attempt something, but at the end of the day BCC is a branch of the State and the freeholding was an Act of Parliament.
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Land often changes hands between governments. Itâd be rich for BCC to demand significant monetary compensation for the state to build an asset on it that benefits BCC, particularly when BCC routinely have their hands out begging for money from the state.
BCC should just start referring to it as the Bradfield Highway in their grant requests and maybe no-one at the Feds will notice its not in Western Sydney and accidentally just pay for it. 
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The cost of a Story Bridge replacement was estimated at being $8.5 billion+, not including the cost of maintenance works required to keep the Story Bridge operational until the new bridge starts construction (another $750 million worth). It would leave Kangaroo Point without a river crossing for 8 years.
That would be 8 years of Story Bridge traffic funnelling along the REX and along the ICB or through the CBD.
On this websiteâŚjust tell 'em it involves âbusesâ and itâll get rushed for support!
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