The Centenary Bridge is a motorway crossing of the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the G ...

. As it forms part of Brisbane's

Centenary Motorway The M5 (Centenary Motorway) is a motorway in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. It starts as a two-lane arterial road at Yamanto, travelling to Springfield, where it becomes a two-lane highway and travels across the M2 Logan Motor ...

, it is used primarily by vehicular traffic, although it includes footpaths for pedestrian traffic. Built to service the new

Centenary Suburbs The Centenary Suburbs are a group of suburbs in the south-west in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The suburbs originated as an "ambitious long-term suburban development proposal that included a number of neighbourhoods, or suburbs, ...

of Jindalee, Mount Ommaney and

Westlake Westlake may refer to: Places Australia * Westlake, Canberra, a ghost town suburb of Canberra * Westlake, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane New Zealand * Westlake, New Zealand, a suburb of Auckland ** Westlake Girls High School ** Westlake Boys ...

, the original two lane bridge opened in 1964. It was financed by the developers of the suburbs,

LJ Hooker LJ Hooker is one of Australia's largest real estate groups, with 600 franchise offices and 6,000 people engaged in residential and commercial property sales and property management. The company was founded in 1928 by Sir Leslie Joseph ...

. The bridge was duplicated to two lanes each way as part of an upgrade of the Centenary Highway and Western Freeway south of Mount Cootha Road. The works were officially opened by Russell Hinze, Minister for Main Roads, on 27 March 1987. During the 1974 floods, the bridge was badly damaged when a barge rammed into its upstream side. The barge blocked the flow of floodwaters under the bridge and there were real fears that the bridge would collapse. The barge was deliberately holed using explosives and allowed to sink to reduce the floodwater pressure on the bridge. When the floodwater receded, the barge was refloated and beached downstream near

Fig Tree Pocket Fig Tree Pocket is a riverside western suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Fig Tree Pocket had a population of 4,045 people. Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is the oldest and largest koala sanctuary in the world. It is a t ...

to be cut up for scrap. The damage sustained by the bridge required its partial closure for repairs. For two years after the floods, the bridge was reduced to a single lane, with one way traffic controlled by traffic lights at each end of the bridge.

New Duplicate Bridge

A project to duplicate the Centenary Bridge to three lanes each way, at a cost of $244 million, is due to commence construction in 2022.

References

External links

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Photo of the barge collision
{{Brisbane bridges navigation Bridges in Brisbane Bridges over the Brisbane River Road bridges in Queensland Bridges completed in 1964 Beam bridges Concrete bridges in Australia