BCC 2026-2027 Budget Discussion

Queensland Greater Brisbane
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The BCC budget for the next financial year is out now, thread for discussion as it relates to transport

The Budget 2026 - Whats in it for Public Transport and whats in it for Queensland?
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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 what’s happened there.

In terms of transport, from a quick skim I’ve 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 don’t 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

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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 that’s what they’re reporting

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The Story Bridge saga in a nutshell:

BCC - “We need the QLD Government and Australian Government to help fund this once-in-a-century renewal.”

QLD & AU Governments’ - Not our problem; you own the bridge; you fix it yourself!

BCC - :enraged_face:

BCC - Australian Government budget announced May 2027; QLD Government budget announced June 2027.

QLD & AU Governments’ - so what if you know our budget schedule for 2027. Not our problem; you own the bridge; you fix it yourself!

BCC - :enraged_face:

BCC - If I class it as an ‘Olympic Infrastructure build’ will you fund it?

QLD & AU Governments’ - :rofl: :rofl:

BCC - Lets hold a fundraiser or ‘GoFundMe’ for the bridge with the aim of raising $3 billion.

Brisbane residents - :facepalm:

BCC - We thought about tolling the Story Bridge, because the BCC doesn’t make enough money.

Brisbane residents - :neutral_face:

BCC - Its OK. the bridge is not urgent, but we have 14 years left to do something?

BCC - “A new bridge is not an option”. Building a new bridge on the same constrained inner-city alignment could cost $8.5 billion.

Brisbane residents - :open_mouth:

BCC - That’s OK, we’ve doing an “early business case” over a “staged-renewal” program. It will only cost $3.6 billion over 20 years.

Brisbane residents - :open_mouth:

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 - :frowning_with_open_mouth:

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 - :shaking_face:

BCC - We haven’t “finished” our ‘Story Bridge Renewal Business Case’ yet!

Brisbane residents - What happened to the $350 million estimate that was completed in 2025?

BCC - We haven’t finished “our” ‘Story Bridge Renewal Business Case’ yet!

Brisbane residents - How long will the bridge need to be closed for it repairs?

BCC - We haven’t finished “our” ‘Story Bridge Renewal Business Case’ yet!

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I’m 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 that’s pretty irresponsible.

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